The Outlaws
by Mr. Wartburg
Summary: The world's heroes have been declared enemies of humanity. One by one they are hunted down and imprisoned. Only one team, The Outlaws, remains active, attempting to rescue their comrades and prove their innocence. Their efforts may be for nothing, as a deadly force draws closer to Earth with each passing day. - A sequel to Sigma Squad -
1. Picking Up The Pieces

**Disclaimer: I do not own Young Justice or any DC characters depicted within this story. **

**This is a direct sequel to _Sigma Squad _and is the fifth part of my own self-contained AU. I strongly recommend you all go read _Sigma Squad_ before diving into this, but I will do my best to make this as friendly as possible to new readers. The main cast for this story will be Jason Todd, the original Roy Harper, and three OCs. Cameron Spear and Maya Ghale are characters from_ Sigma Squad_ while Hawkeye, Thomas Jackson, is the leader of the team. Hawkeye was the first OC I created for use in my first work, _Strange New World._**

**For this story I will be borrowing from several different places in the DC universe. This first chapter is merely an introduction into the new universe while the next chapter will focus on the main characters and their situation.**

**I hope you all enjoy it!**

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**May 1, 2017 – ****8:30 p.m.  
****Checkmate Black Site Facility  
****13 Months after the destruction of Mumbai**

Amanda Waller, director of Checkmate, walked the halls of the black site compound cautiously; keenly aware that a misstep on her part could get her thrown in prison, or worse. As she passed a pair of guards at the security checkpoint, the feeling of unease grew. These men were members of the most well-trained security force on the planet. Checkmate needed the best when they'd been assigned to capture renegade heroes, and they found and trained the soldiers to fight this new war. Now, the war against the vigilantes was winding down, so some of the men were now guarding key personnel and compounds. This is what gave a woman who earned the nickname "The Wall" grew more paranoid each day. She lived in fear that her actions in the first months of the war would be discovered, no matter who well she had been assured all evidence had been destroyed.

Following the events of the previous year the world had seen drastic change. When Mumbai was destroyed, the governments around the world summarily outlawed all vigilante activities, though their main focus was clearly ending what they perceived as the 'superhero menace'. Her organization, Checkmate, had previously been responsible for handling special ops involving the superhuman community, including intelligence gathering. They had been given the task of heading up the hunt for the vigilantes, and they were exceedingly successful in that endeavor. As she flipped through the security feeds of the occupied cells in the high-security prions on her laptop she reflected back on just how bad things had gotten.

Just after the destruction of Mumbai, and the successfully defense of the Reach invasion, there were several different reactions from the hero community once the government declared their activities were essentially terrorist actions. Some disappeared, going back into space or their home domains, protected from outside rule. Some stood in open defiance of the order to surrender. Others turned themselves over willingly, chiefly among them was Captain Atom. As the poster boy for military heroes, he was tasked with brining in his former compatriots who had run from the government. Waller wondered if the Captain knew exactly what happened to those who surrendered or were captured. As she viewed the footage of the catatonic, atrophied body of Billy Batson, she highly doubted that he did. Billy had transformed into his human form, but the soldiers who brought him in believed he deserved a more physical punishment for the deaths of so many people in Mumbai. In the end they strapped an inhibitor collar to him, preventing him from speaking and thus rendering him incapable of turning back into Captain Marvel.

As she continued her trek toward her office Waller thought about how the League's 'Trinity' was a microcosm of the whole event. Batman, quite predictably, had refused surrender and gone to ground, but not even he eluded the combined power of the entire world's military might. The Dark Knight had immediately set out to continue his vigilante work, even dragging a few young heroes with him. For a while they were successful, mostly due to a contact deep within the government. But when the government cracked the League's zeta technology, Batman and his team were easy pickings for the government's most powerful weapons. Only a few were taken into custody unscathed, Batman was not so lucky. As Waller flipped to the feed of Batman's cell she felt guilt at his condition. While his body had mostly healed from the trauma of his capture, his mind had not. The former Caped Crusader lay on his back staring at the ceiling, a catatonic-like stare hinted at the madness he was descending into.

Wonder Woman returned to Themiscyra peacefully. The military pursued, but the island had vanished by the time the fighters arrived. The biggest surprise of the bunch was undoubtedly Big Blue himself. Superman turned himself over to authorities within three weeks of the order from the United Nations. Waller could only speculate as to the reason for the delay, but the alien had mentioned squaring away a few dangerous projects so that no one would be harmed. What was done to him, and the meta-humans, was not something Waller cared to think about.

Aquaman had retreated to Atlantis, his home's military superiority protecting him from persecution. The Martian Manhunter and his niece had fled to Mars. Once in space, no human object could overtake them. The rest of the hero community was hard to track. Batman had managed to purge most of the League's files before Watchtower was compromised, so there were quite a few were living civilian lives, forced into permanent retirement.

The villains were another story. With the outlawing of their nemeses many went on a worldwide crime spree, adding to the chaos after the invasion. Many of the small time villains were executed, the government had little desire to capture and detain them while all their efforts were focused on the pursuit of the disgraced heroes. That policy was a slippery slope, which wholeheartedly lived up to the moniker. After a few months, when most of the heroes had been rounded up, the government issued standing orders to shoot perpetrators on sight, creating a military police state in many nations. The people were at first behind the move; even going so far as to elect Lex Luthor to the office of President behind a massive wave of human-first sentiment. During the president's first few months, the situation had cooled considerable, but now there was a new problem. The populace was beginning to show signs of unrest at the drastic change in the government.

All of these problems had caused considerably strain on Checkmate's director. Waller sighed as she reached her office and locked the door behind her. She sat behind her desk, pulling out the file of the various heroes on the governments watch list.

_Batman – Resisted Arrest – Captured_

_Superman – Surrendered_

_Wonder Woman – Resisted Arrest – On Themiscyra_

_Aquaman – Resisted Arrest – In Atlantis_

_Maritan Manhunter – Resisted Arrest – Mars_

_Green Lanterns_

_ Hal Jordan – Resisted Arrest – Oa_

_ Jon Stewart – Surrendered_

_Captain Marvel – Surrendered_

_Hawkman/Hawkgirl – Resisted Arrest – Thanagaria_

_Black Canary – Resisted Arrest – Location unknown_

_Green Arrow – Resisted Arrest – Location unknown_

_Flash – Resisted Arrest – Captured_

She closed the file, not able to get past the first page. Each name that read _captured_ conjured images of their brutal treatment in her head, images she wasn't sure she could live with any longer. When the witch hunt took place, she told herself she would find a way to help the heroes. For a while she fed information to Batman, but that proved fruitless as he was captured along with nearly his whole team of 20 heroes. Waller didn't even want to think about what had been done to the kids, kids that she had been chosen to hunt down.

And now Checkmate had been tasked with brining in one of the last known active heroes. The man was only known by his codename: Hawkeye. There was no face, no age, hell they didn't even know what exactly his powers were! They only had the vaguest of descriptions of him from a few witnesses, but those reports were two or three years old so he'd obviously been active before the Reach invasion, but managed to stay off of everyone's radar. What Checkmate did know was that he had been breaking in and hacking into government files relating to the heroes, but each time he failed to get any evidence of what the government had done with their captives.  
The most recent infiltration suggested that he was working with one or more partners, making the matter a much higher priority for Checkmate. An organization of heroes was exactly what President Luthor feared most. Waller pulled out the mostly blank file on Hawkeye, staring at the white space so intently she didn't even notice the black clad figure entering through the window behind her.

"Evening, Waller."

Those two words startled Waller so much that she lost her balance in the chair, spinning around so fast that she fell out of it. She reached for the panic button, but was unable to reach it as a throwing knife lodged itself between her hand and the button.

"I wouldn't touch that if I were you." The man stepped forward into the light, his 6'2" frame towered over Waller, who had quickly picked herself up off the floor. The man stepped closer to her. His short brown hair came down just slightly above his eyebrows. His eyes, hidden behind a black domino mask with white eye lenses, bore into her. The man's muscular posture indicated he intended to beat the crap out of something. Yet, despite the tension in the room, the man suddenly stepped back and his face broke into an easy smile.

"Take it easy, Waller. I'm not here to kill you, quite the opposite in fact."

The man maneuvered around Waller to read over the empty file on the desk. Waller studied the man's uniform. In all honesty it was much like the vigilante formerly known as Nightwing, but there was a gold bird on the chest instead of blue. He carried an assortment of weapons on his person, mostly notably a compact baseball bat attached to his back. After taking the man's presence in Waller finally found her voice. "Who the hell are you?"

"I'm the man in the file." He tossed the manila folder in her direction. It landed on the floor, the lone page within roaming the air for several seconds before it found the ground. "And I believe you and I can help one another."

Realization came to the head of Checkmate. Her eyes narrowed and her voice lowered in anger. "Hawkeye. How the hell am I supposed to help you?"

Hawkeye began examining Waller's laptop, even opening up the bottom casing. "Oh, and you can stop hamming it up for the cameras, I disabled them on my way in. I know you were the one helping Batman. Now you can extend the same courtesy to me and _my_ team. But this meet and greet's going to have to wrap up soon, my distraction's nearly here."

Hawkeye's confident demeanor threw Waller for a loop. She hesitated for a moment, thinking on how to proceed. She quickly decided to act. "What do you need?"

"For you to answer one question; where are they keeping them?"

Waller needed no help to understand who _them_ was. Her breath caught in her throat as she struggled to find the words to answer the question, the weight of the whole situation crashing down on upon her. "I don't know. They never told me where the compounds were. After they're captured they get sent to several sites. Meta's go to one facility for testing, aliens to another. Human captives get their own super max prison."

Hawkeye nodded in silence, digesting the new information. Explosions just outside of the compound drew both he and Waller's attention. Hawkeye cocked his head to the window. "And that would be Red Hood and Arsenal. Those boys certainly do love to cause a ruckus."

Hawkeye touched his earpiece. "We ready to roll, Colt?" Hawkeye nodded as he received intel from the other speaker. "What do you mean Renegade was too sick to make it? She better have a damn good reason! I'll be out in one minute, keep the engines hot."

Hawkeye turned his attention back to Waller after snapping off the comm device. "Well, I've got to go Waller, but take this." Hawkeye handed Waller a comm device. "It's an old JLA comm device we've modified. Keep it powered down to avoid them picking up the signal. Get to a secure location and turn in on tomorrow night at 2300 hours. I'll contact you then."

Hawkeye turned to leave through the window, but Waller had one last question. "What do I even call your team?"

Hawkeye smirked. "We're The Outlaws."

And as quickly as he came, Hawkeye slipped back into the night. Checkmate's leader smiled as she saw the hero had taken her laptop, but more importantly he had found and removed the tracking device within it. Despite how bleak the situation seemed mere moments ago; Amanda Waller felt something she hadn't felt in a long time: hope.

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**Please review!**


	2. Old Acquaintances

**Thanks to NekoRy for taking the time to beta this particular chapter.**

**Enjoy!**

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**8:45 p.m.  
****Aboard the Outlaw's stealth ship  
****En route to Gotham City**

After stealing Waller's laptop Hawkeye retreated to the stealth ship, which was really just a stolen Reach ship with Justice League modifications. Cameron flew over to pick up Red Hood and Arsenal, who were having far too much fun blowing up the Checkmate facility. The two grappled aboard with ease. Hood touched a switch on his helmet and the base expanded so he could lift it from his head.

"So, we still headed to Gotham?" Just a few months ago this jovial tone when speaking with Hawkeye would have seemed extremely odd coming from the mouth of Jason Todd. The ex-Robin had never been one to take orders, going so far as to consistently challenge Hawkeye on every mission. At first, Thomas had put up with Jason's attitude, knowing that part of it stemmed from his revival at the hands of Ra's al Ghul. But a few missions back Todd went off script, nearly getting the entire team caught by the Checkmate goons. During an intense and violent sparring session the next day Hawkeye made it clear who was in charge of the team. Since that time, Red Hood had been far more cooperative, even if he did occasionally act as though Thomas was completely incompetent.

"Yep. Oracle's expecting us at the usual spot."

"Nice, can't wait get some of Agent A's cookies."

Just after the invasion Hawkeye, Arsenal, Red Hood, Colt, and Renegade had all joined up with Batman's crew. While The Outlaws never actually lived in Batman's hideout, Oracle did. When Checkmate came crashing down on their ears, she was one of the few to make it out, but it came at a grave price. During the explosions she was thrown into a wall, her spine impacting a protruding rock. While she was now just starting to recover, Agent A had managed to carry her safely to a backup safe house where they had stayed ever since.

Arsenal wasn't entirely pleased with the situation. "Don't see why we have to go to her. We're the ones risking our necks out in the real world. She could just come to us, maybe show us her face."

Oracle served as a great ally for The Outlaw's activities, but only Hawkeye and Red Hood had ever been allowed to see her face to face. Arsenal was a little thrown when Hood came to Oracle's defense. "Before all this went down she could have kicked your ass Arsenal."

"That a fact?"

"It is. You two settle down, especially you ginger." Hawkeye relaxed when the two young men walked away from each other, though Arsenal gave him a glare for the red head comment. The team leader turned his attention to Cameron. "Any word from Maya?"

The black-haired man behind the controls shook his head. "I know she's been sick the last couple of days. She said if she wasn't feeling better in the morning that she'd head over to Canary's place to get checked out."

"Well, see if you can get in touch with her while we're talking with Oracle."

Cameron nodded as the ship passed into Gotham airspace. Thomas stared out at the city's skyline. Out of all the major cities, Gotham had seen the worst during the witch-hunt. The battle against Batman had seen several of the Bat's black sites destroyed for security reasons, leaving several buildings in rubble. But it was Checkmate's pursuit of the Joker that had been extremely costly. The Clown Prince of Crime didn't take too kindly to being pursued by the government and he made it known by going on a murderous rampage the likes of which had never been seen. Thousands fell in his wake as he eluded capture all over Gotham. Checkmate believed they had him cornered in Gotham General Hospital, but when they sent in their tactical units he wasn't there. Instead, they heard the clown's insane laughter over their radios as he bid them all farewell. From a nearby parking structure he detonated the bombs in the hospital, killing hundreds more. Rumor was that Joker had been badly hurt in an engagement with Checkmate and fled the city while others said that he realized that they would eventually catch him, but in the end it didn't matter. After the hospital incident the Joker was never seen in Gotham again.

Cameron brought the ship down underneath an old bridge on the north side of the city.

Hawkeye and Red Hood exited the craft and descended down the sewer shaft while Cameron took the ship and flew out of the city, waiting for the signal to retrieve his two teammates. Cameron tapped his earpiece, attempting to establish contact with his girlfriend.

"Maya, you there?" Static was the only reply. "Babe, if you're there and not picking up because I hogged all the covers again, I would like to take this time to apologize."

When there was no reply Cameron tapped his earpiece, tuning to a slightly different frequency. "Canary, this is Colt."

_"Go ahead."_ Dinah Lance's voice came back through the comm device. _"And there is no need for the codenames, you know me and Oliver are not in the game anymore."_

"Old habit's, I guess. The reason I'm calling is I'm looking for Maya. Seen her today?"

There was a brief moment of hesitation on Dinah's end. _"Uh, no can't say I have."_

"Alright, well, if you see her, tell her I just wanted to make sure she was ok."

_"Will do. Bye."_ Dinah cut the line, leaving Cameron completely in the dark as to what was going on.

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**May 1, 2017 – 7:15 a.m.  
****The Outlaws hideout**

"Ugh." Maya's head slumped against the porcelain of the toilet, the cool material feeling wondrous against her forehead. While the team was out gallivanting to save the world, she was stuck in the bathroom, puking her guts out. And that wasn't even the worst part, as she recalled what she held in her hand.

_Pink fucking sucks._

Those were the only words Maya could use to describe her situation. As an ex-assassin she had never really had any affinity for colors that were not dark in tone. So needless to say, she'd always thought the color pink was atrocious. Now, her thoughts on the manner included a want to pile up everything in the world that was pink.

_And fucking burn it all._

Trying to take her mind of the matter at hand, she thought about how her choice in companions was starting to rub off on her, especially in her language use. But that only lasted a few seconds as her attention was squarely back on the pink plus that was staring back at her from the pregnancy test in her hand. As she sat in the bathroom she thought back to how she had gotten herself in this situation.

She and Cameron had gotten together just before the Reach invasion, even joining this ragtag team of heroes in the immediate aftermath of the Mumbai incident. It had taken awhile for Maya to really loosen up, but once she did there was a definite change in the relationship. If she remembered correctly Hood had said that Cameron and she were "going at it like a pair of fucking rabbits". Comparing what she knew of the sexual habits of rabbits she was forced to consider that the man's remark may not have been off the mark by all that much. Indeed, for the last few months, things had gotten _heated_ to say the least for the pair. Then one morning, Maya woke up with extreme nausea, to the point of running to the bathroom to vomit the previous night's supper. Even when it happened two more times she thought little of it, Hood's cooking was truly horrendous after all. But Arsenal's passing comment about morning sickness stuck in Maya's mind. She passed it off as no big deal, but in her mind she was freaking out. Now, things had gone from bad to worse. They were living a very dangerous existence, only one job away from incarceration, and now she was pregnant. Out of nowhere she felt tears beginning to well up in her eyes.

While she was no longer thinking clearly, she knew that there was someone out there who could help. Shaking off another wave of nausea, Maya ran to her motorbike and took off into the morning light. 15 minutes later she arrived at her destination. The large mansion had always seemed slightly intimidating to her, but perhaps that was more a function of who she knew lived there. Within moments of knocking on the door Dinah Lance opened the door, utterly shocked to find Maya on her doorstep. The woman, formerly known as Black Canary, recovered quickly and motioned for the girl to enter into the house.

Dinah was silent while Maya sat on the couch. The young women's mentor/mother figure finished making some tea and brought it to the girl. She couldn't have been gladder that Oliver was out of the house acting the part of Star City's mayor because the situation looked like it could get a little awkward. Dinah sat in silence next to Maya, looking over the girl. A lot had changed in the year the she had known her. Clearly, she was recovering from her treatment at the hands of the League of Shadows. When Maya had first come to the Hall of Justice, she had been full of arrogance and it was clear to Dinah that she had been through an insane amount of trauma. Yet despite her harsh and cold nature, Dinah had seen something spark in her eyes during their training, usually whenever Cameron entered the room. The pair reminded the veteran hero so much of Artemis and Wally, but Dinah was determined not to think about those two or the fate that had found them. Dinah could clearly see that Maya was much less emotionally closed off, but now it was fear that seemed to grip her as she sat on the couch. The downward stare coupled with her hand over her stomach gave Canary a sudden realization.

"You're pregnant." Dinah's matter of fact statement caught Maya by surprise. The girl's eyes met Dinah's, silently pleading for guidance. Seeing the tears start to form, Dinah wrapped an arm around Maya as the younger girl cried into her shoulder. After what seemed like an eternity, Maya pulled away from Dinah and wiped her eyes furiously.

"I'm sorry, I just didn't know where else to go."

Dinah smiled softly. "It's ok, I'm glad you came. But you know I have to ask who the dad is. It is Cameron's isn't it?" Maya nodded. "Have you told him?"

When the ex-assassin shook her head Dinah sighed. _Why do assassins have to be so complicated?_

"Don't worry. I may never have had kids myself, but I've know someone I think you should meet. Would you mind if I called her?" Maya nodded, suddenly remembering who her mentor may be referring to.

Dinah pulled out her phone and greeted the person on the other line. "Hey Jade. Say, if you aren't busy today I need you to come over to the mansion. There's a bit of a situation that you may be able to help with. Besides, you know I would love to see Lian again. It's been way to long." Dinah paused while the other speaker replied. "Good, see you in an hour."

* * *

An hour later there was a knock on the door. Jade Nguyen-Harper walked in with a two-year old on her arm. Said two year-old lit up like a Christmas tree as soon as Dinah opened the door. "Nana!"

Dinah took Lian who was squirming uncontrollably in Jade's arm, and ushered Jade inside. The trio went to the kitchen, bypassing a sleeping Maya. Once in the kitchen, Dinah shut the door as quietly as possible before Jade cut right to the chase.

"Mind telling me what this is about? I know you love Lian and all, but you and I haven't ever exactly been on the best of terms. Roy was particularly adamant that something must be going on if you asked for me instead of him. And when you consider that those of us who 'retired' have to lay low…" Jade trailed off, but both knew her point was.

"You remember that girl I told you about last year before everything went crazy? Yeah, that's her sleeping on the couch."

"Let me guess, the ex-assassin got knocked up by her hero boyfriend?"

"Pretty much."

"Damn. First Artemis, then me, now this girl. It seems heroes have a way of bringing out certain desires in us assassin-trained women."

"Jade, I don't to hear about your and Roy's private life. Or your sister's for that matter. Would you please just go talk to the girl? Her name is Maya. She's on that team Roy helped out on a few times. She's pretty close to losing it."

Jade stared at the door, remembering back to the moment she first found out she was pregnant with Lian. "When did she find out?"

"This morning, from what I can tell."

"Fine, you watch Lian while I talk to her." After making sure Lian wouldn't follow her, Jade walked back to the living room where Maya was beginning to stir from her panic induced nap.

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**8:52 p.m.  
****Gotham City  
****Oracle's Base of Operations**

"You'd think BG could have picked a better spot than a freaking sewer to set up her base." Red Hood did not like stepping in the waste of the people of Gotham. Even the city's sewage was somehow dirtier than the rest of the world. And Hood would know, having plenty of experience breaking into places through the sewer systems.

"Well, Checkmate didn't exactly leave a ton of options, now did they?" Hawkeye's reply was terse. Despite his little pow-wow with Jason earlier in the year, things were still tense between the two most experienced members of the team. Hawkeye knew this team would be hard to lead, especially Jason. Jason had a superiority complex, one that Thomas did not like one bit. Their differing viewpoints on things still caused problems, thought lately Jason had been falling in line with a little less conflict. It wasn't so much that Thomas didn't want dissenting opinions; just that he didn't want anyone actively undermining his authority.

"We're here." Hood had taken point and had reached the entrance first. It didn't look like much, a blank wall with a faded red Batman symbol. But the symbol split apart, revealing a scanner like the ones used by the League.

_**Recognized TO01: Hawkeye**_

_**Recognized TO02: Red Hood**_

_**Entrance Authorized**_

The scanner retreated as the wall on the right split apart, revealing a grate walkway lit up with lights underneath. The two walked along the path until another wall blocked their path. A handprint monitor and retina scanner was in place and the duo both allowed the machines to do their work. Once done, this wall lifted up to allow entry into the Oracle's base, more affectionately known as the Eagle's Nest.

Once the door lifted, Hood was off to the races. "Yo, B! When did you change the scanner?"

"Last night." Oracle was seated in front of multiple monitors.

Jason's face soured almost imperceptibly at the sight of Barbra's wheelchair. "So, how goes the rehab?"

"Better, Alfred's been making sure I actually do the exercises and move away from the computer for more than sleep. He said in a month I may be walking around on crutches." The two newcomers both smiled widely at the statement, glad their old friend was on the mend.

"So, if you don't mind my asking, where's Alfred? Attending to our secluded friend?"

"Indeed I was Master Thomas."

"No change then?"

"None, sir. I've been attempting to bring him around, but ever since Barbara's injury he has been extremely withdrawn. However, I am happy to report he has resumed a proper diet and I have twice seen him completing a routine training exercise."

"Well, tell him I'm glad he's finally getting off his ass. If he ever actually leaves his room, tell him we need to talk."

"Certainly. Was there any other business other than checking up?"

"Yes there is." Hawkeye brought up the laptop that he'd carried in. "Got this from Waller. Removed the tracer and the redundant backup. She was looking at footage of the prison cells, but I believe her when she says she doesn't know."

"How could you believe anything that bitch said?"

"Well, Jay, do you really think Luthor or anyone that's a part of The Light would tell anyone the location of those prisons?"

Barbara wheeled over to the computers when Jason failed to answer. "Well, whatever the situation, I'm just glad we finally caught a break. No offense, but despite your team's skill set, we haven't had even a whiff of where they've been keeping everyone. God knows what they've done to them. Maybe this way we can have a chance." Barbara booted up the laptop, making sure it was removed from her network before accessing any of the files. "This is going to take a long time to hack this, then decode it. Stupid Checkmate and their stupid redundancies."

"That's kind of what we figured B. Let us know when you've got it cracked. Any other news?"

"Yeah, you know how I've been tracking all the members of the Light?"

"And having no luck?"

"Shut your mouth Jay. I found someone."

"Who?"

"Vandal Savage."

Hawkeye's eyes narrowed at the mention of murderous leader of The Light. "Then let's go get the bastard."

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**Let me know what you think!**


	3. Impact

**Quick shout to Ansa88 for beta-ing this chapter. **

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**Previously on The Outlaws**

_"Yeah, you know how I've been tracking all the members of the Light?"_

_"And having no luck?"_

_"Jay, shut your mouth I found someone."_

_"Who?"_

_"Vandal Savage."_

_Hawkeye's eyes narrowed at the mention of murderous leader of The Light. "Then let's go get the bastard."_

* * *

After Oracle's announcement of her discovery, it didn't take long to divulge that Savage was currently in Star City. According to Oracle, there was a lot of chatter that the leader of The Light was meeting with a highly powerful player in the global politics. There was no intel on who he was meeting, but that didn't matter to Hawkeye, who had his team back in the air moments after receiving the news. The man's anger was evident as he stewed in the rear of the craft. For the other three men in the ship, the situation was one they were not used to seeing. Hawkeye was usually the level-headed member, but in the past whenever he got angry things went sideways in hurry. Only Jason really understood why Thomas so on edge this time around. Savage had been responsible for a lot of pain in Thomas's life. The villainous immortal had kidnapped him, tortured him to the very point of breaking, and cloned his body to create an army of super soldiers—all in the name of undoing the genetic tampering of White Martian scientists eons ago. If it wasn't for the intervention of one of the scientists, then Savage's brainwashing of Thomas would have been successful. While Cameron and Roy were oblivious to this information, Jason fully understood, and as such took it upon himself to reach out their leader.

"So, what's the plan?"

Hawkeye continued staring at the opposite bulkhead as he replied. "First, we're picking up Maya. Cameron, tell her to meet us back at base." While Cameron busied himself with the earpiece, Thomas continued with plan. "At the base we need to pick up a few things. We'll need the EM jammers, wouldn't want Savage to alert his guards when I grab him."

Arsenal, seeing Hawkeye's anger toward Savage, was a little concerned with the last part. "You'll be the one taking him?"

"Yes, and if any of you are thinking of stopping me; don't. I've waited five years to get this bastard, and today I will have my revenge. Is that understood?" Hawkeye stared around the room, cold fury evident in his eyes.

"I understand perfectly." Hood spoke from behind the mask, but voice seemed a little less hostile. "You won't get any interference on our end. You do what you've got to do."

Thomas nodded in acknowledgement and resumed his angry silence as Cameron brought the ship closer to The Outlaws base in one of Green Arrow's secondary sites. When they arrived the team found Maya already gearing up.

Roy delighted in finally being able to have some leverage in an argument against the team's only female member. "So, finally decided to get or (out?) your ass, I see. Just don't touch me, wouldn't want get sick."

"I highly doubt you could come down with what I have. If you did, I would have to question your manhood." Maya's rebuke went without any follow up from the rest of the team, most of whom went about hurriedly gathering gear for the op. Cameron, however, was not among them. He immediately went to Maya's side, noticing an unusual look on her face.

"Something going on? Feeling better?"

Maya nodded, stuffing her holster with another throwing star. "I am much better, but there is something I need to tell you."

Cameron leaned in closer, but wasn't able to hear anymore due to Hawkeye calling for the team to load up the ship and prep for takeoff.

"We'll pick this up when we get back." (unclear who said this.) When Maya didn't answer Cameron pressed her. "Right? I don't want you to ignore something that is clearly important."

"Yes, we will talk when we get back."

Cameron smiled as he moved in for a quick kiss. "I love you."

* * *

As the team flew on toward the Star City FBI field office Hawkeye recounted the plan. "So, we'll be entering as a team, no splitting up like last time. Colt, I need you to pilot the ship to the exfil point and park it. Enter from there and provide cover for the extraction."

Cameron nodded from behind the controls as he piloted the ship to the drop point. "We're here. See you on the other side."

The four other members of the team dropped a top the roof, the boys immediately setting out to place their rappelling lines down the side of the building. Maya removed the cover from the roof's air vent. On Thomas's signal, she lowered herself into the vent, following the outlined plan.

Hawkeye turned to the two men beside him and gave curt nod as he began his rapid descent down the side of the building. Given his enhance strength he could take the strain of such a maneuver and reach the target floor before Red Hood or Arsenal. Savage's meeting was taking place on the 17th floor and Thomas intended to be the first to crash the party. He reached the window several seconds before and quickly cut through the glass with a laser cutter, leaving a big enough for himself and the two behind him. He timed his entry just right to avoid any patrols, thankful for once to have solid intelligence. Oracle didn't usually provide real-time intelligent for The Outlaws, considering she had her own agenda, but capturing Savage was pretty high on her to do list. As he silently stalked the halls Thomas could feel his heart pounding as he neared his goal. Exacting his revenge on Savage had been something he had been dreaming about nearly every day for the last five years. Just as he was about to reach the target room he heard Maya's voice over the comm.

"_Hawkeye, this is Renegade. I've got urgent intel that's changed our mission parameters."_

Hawkeye paused outside the door, satisfied his position was secure thanks to Hood and Arsenal taking flanking positions at both ends of the hall. "What's the intel?"

"_Savage is meeting with that reporter from GNN, Gordon Godfrey. Patching you into a live stream."_

The audio feed changed to that of a conversation between their target and Godfrey. _"I must say Savage, what you've pulled off here is certainly commendable."_

"_Due in no small part to yourself Godfrey, you're anti-hero rhetoric was key to turning public opinion."_

"_Oh, I know it was. All part of the plan, just not yours."_

"_What are getting at Godfrey? What scheme could a reporter have?"_

"_Oh, I never said it was my scheme. I'm merely a minion doing his master's work. And if you do not bow to his will before this night is through then you will die, as well any other who dares to stand in the path of a god."_

"_Fool, you know I cannot be killed."_

"_That is where you are wrong Vandal. You know full well that HE most certainly could finish you. His Omega beams would incinerate you where you stand."_

Hawkeye stopped the feed. "Renegade, we're breaching in 5 seconds. Go radio silent until we're en route to extraction. Turn on your EM jammer and follow on my signal."

If the team was confused by what the signal would be, the confusion ended when Hawkeye kicked in the door. Thomas was shocked to find only one person in the room, but it mattered little as the man he sought stood motionless, as though he expected to be caught. In a fit of rage, Hawkeye pinned him against the exterior window, the glass spider-webbing under the strain. Arsenal, and Renegade moved to stop Hawkeye from going too far, but were stopped by Red Hood.

Pinned against the glass, Savage seemed to take pleasure in the scenario. The evil smile on his face contorted the distinct scars on his face. "Hello again. It's been far too long for this reunion to take place. Don't you agree?"

Hawkeye pressed just little harder on the glass. "I couldn't agree more, Savage."

Savage laughed arrogantly. "Do you think you are going to exact vengeance tonight, boy?"

Before Hawkeye could answer Colt's voice came through the team line. _"Uh, hate to break up the party but we need to wrap this up now. Something big is in bound from space, about to impact the Star City harbor. It's going to cause all sorts of problems for the city."_

Hawkeye took the news in stride. "Arsenal, Renegade, get back to the ship. I've got some business to discuss with our friend here.

"You know I'll never talk, boy. Does it pain you to come so close to having revenge without attaining it? Even if you wanted to kill me, you would never be able to."

"Oh, I've thought of a few ways to keep you dead. My favorite is cutting off your head and throwing it in the ocean."

"Creative, I'll give you that. But, if you take me, you'll never be able to keep me secure while helping out with the situation in the harbor." Hawkeye eased up when Savage mentioned the harbor. "Oh, did you think it was coincidence I was here tonight?"

"There never is a coincidence with you Savage. And I know if we let you walk out of here, Checkmate will be on us before we're out of the city. In fact, the only thing keeping them from doing so right now is these handy little EM jammers we're wearing, preventing you from making any calls expecting any frequency we designate."

"So what will you do, 'hero'? You can't kill me and you can't let me walk out of here."

Hawkeye was suddenly glad Maya and Roy had left as he came up with an on the fly plan. "Well, I guess we'll see how long it takes you to heal from this." Hawkeye punched through the glass and held Savage over the edge. "I'll be seeing you again real soon."

Hood and Hawkeye watched as Savage fell toward the ground, picking up speed until he suddenly impacted the pavement below.

"So, how long you think he'll be down for?"

Hawkeye shrugged at Hood's question. "I'd say at least a day, maybe two."

Hood chuckled inside his helmet, clapping his hand on Hawkeye's shoulder. "You know, I think I'm starting to see what Batman saw in you."

"That a good thing or a bad thing?"

"Still working on that." Hood paused as the stealth ship suddenly decloaked in front of them. Roy's dulcent tones were heard over the comm.

"Hey, you two done playing with yourselves? Oracle just called, said we've got 30 seconds before the meteor hits."

Thomas and Jason jumped into the open door of the ship. Cameron floored it toward the bay, filling in Thomas on the situation. "Oracle said the meteor mostly broke up in the atmosphere, but will still cause a sizeable tidal surge in the surrounding areas of the city. Should we stay and provide assistance?"

"We're staying, but we won't be providing assistance, Savage said that The Light wants whatever is coming. And we're going to get to it first."

"There it is!" Maya's exclamation drew the team's attention to a streaking light falling into the harbor in front of them. It impacted with enough force to create a massive displacement of water, turning over many of the cargo ships in the water near the impact site.

"Bring us over the impact site."

When Cameron brought the re-cloaked ship above the impact site Hawkeye jumped out of the ship and into the water. What he found utterly stunned him. Lying unconscious in the water was a gorgeous blonde girl, who looked like she was no older than 17 at the most. Thomas immediately swam nearer to her, hoping to get her back to the surface so she didn't drown. Along the way back to the surface the girl awoke, and promptly freaked out. She lashed out against Thomas, who was even more shocked when her right uppercut sent him flying out of the water. He was caught by the blonde girl in mid-air by his shirt collar.

The girl began speaking in a familiar, but undecipherable language. She grew increasingly demanding when Thomas saw on her wrist a metal bracelet with a very familiar symbol; the symbol of the House of El. Thinking quickly Hawkeye said the only thing he could think of.

"Do you know Kal-El?"

At the mention of Kal-El, the girl released Thomas, causing him to plummet back to the water below. He managed to right himself with his pyro kinesis. It had been a while since he'd used his ability for flight, but he managed to bring himself back up, Iron Man-style, to the girl's eye level.

He pointed to the bracelet. "Kal-El?"

The girl rubbed the bracelet self-consciously then pointed to herself. "Kara Zor-El."

Thomas smiled, which seemed to put the girl at ease. Cameron radioed that he was ready to pick them up. Hawkeye motioned for the girl to follow and she thankfully came along willingly. Once in the ship Cameron was asking where to go next.

Hawkeye stared at the beautiful blonde beside him. "We're heading up north. I think this counts as one of those emergencies Big Blue said we could use the Fortress for."

* * *

Truer words were never spoken, as the situation was indeed one that called for a trip to Superman's Fortress of Solitude. If having someone who looked like Superman's sister land in a harbor wasn't an emergency, then The Outlaws didn't want to know what was. Considering that their passenger didn't speak a lick of English, the ride up North was filled with awkward silence. That ended when the team was able to see the Fortress through the main view screen. The blonde newcomer began pointing excitedly, apparently familiar with the design of this particular structure. The rest of team just stared in awe at legendary sanctuary of the Man of Steel. Even though Hawkeye had spent a few days in the Fortress before, it still struck him as awe inspiring. Thomas quickly pointed out the best landing spot for Cameron and everyone grabbed a winter parka from the rear storage compartment and disembarked from the ship, following Hawkeye to what looked to be a giant door. Even more shocking was the robot standing at the door, a 7 painted on its front. It moved quickly to approach the team.

"Greetings Hawkeye. It has been twelve months, three weeks, and two days since your last presence here. What is the nature of your visit?"

"Seven, this is my team. As you should know, Superman allowed me access to the systems here in case of emergency."

"That is indeed the truth. What is the emergency?"

Thomas motioned for the blonde to join him near the robot. At her presence the robot began scanning the girl, only to stop suddenly. "You must come inside at once. This is a most joyous day, the House of El has regained a lost member!"

The metal door parted, opening into a large cavernous area with an alien computer console at its center. The team looked around, impressed. Hood walked over the console with Hawkeye and the blonde. "Man, Nightwing would have loved to come. Supes was, like, his idol."

"I know. Now if you wouldn't mind, I need to activate the Fortress A.I." Hawkeye grabbed the crystals that Superman had given him for the Fortress.. After placing the second crystal in its slot, the console glowed bright and a voice was heard booming throughout the Fortress.

"Greetings Hawkeye." The deep voice, which almost sounded a little British, was immediately recognized by Kara.

Hawkeye spoke back, though the team was thoroughly confused who he was talking to. "Hello Jor-El. I believe there is someone you here you need to speak with."

"Indeed, I was informed of my niece's presence when you arrived." The word 'niece' stunned The Outlaws even more. The alien voice changed into the language that Kara had been speaking in Star City. Suddenly, Kara was bathed in a white light and lifted a few feet off the ground. Symbols appeared around her and her eyes moved in a rapid pace to follow them. After a few minutes, the light ceased and Kara was lowered back to the ground. The team crowded around her, checking to see if she was alright.

"Mind explaining what you just did Jor-El?"

Silence answered Hawkeye's question, but he received an answer, in English no less, from someone else entirely. "He taught me English and asked me to thank you for rescuing me from where I fell to Earth."

To show her appreciation, Kara walked over to Thomas and gave him a quick hug. Normally Thomas would have felt awkward with a display of affection, especially from a girl as good looking as Kara, but when you're getting crushed by a full blooded Kryptonian the situation has a decidedly different outcome.

"Kara. I think you're crushing my spine." Thomas barely managed to choke out those words before Kara immediately pulled away, embarrassed.

"Oh, I'm very sorry. I guess I'm going to have to get used to this new strength. Jor-El said it would take some adjustment."

Thomas massaged his back as he felt several vertebrae realign in his upper back. Kara really had started to crush his spine and if it hadn't been for his increased durability and highly evolved healing ability, things would have been quite dire for him. "Don't worry about it." Hawkeye straightened up, now fully 100%. "My name's Thomas Jackson. This is the rest of my team."

Hawkeye motioned for the team to introduce themselves. Arsenal went first, eager to introduce himself to the girl. "The name's Roy."

Jason slapped Roy on the back of the head. "Keep it in your pants, Roy. You can call me Hood." Even after everything went down, Jason still didn't want anyone know who he really was.

Cameron went next. "Pleased to meet you. My name's Cameron Spear and this is Maya Ghale, my girlfriend."

"It is an honor to meet you all; I am Kara Zor-El."

After the introductions the booming voice of Jor-El was heard again. "Now, other than my niece's arrival on Earth is there anything else you seven wish to speak of?"

"Yeah." Before Hawkeye could go any further Jason interrupted.

"What do you mean by seven? I only count six of us, including Kara."

"Apologies, my sensors detected a seventh life within this woman and I mistakenly attributed it sentience." A beam of light encompassed Maya. "I am, as my son would say, 'rusty' when it comes to human interaction and pregnancy."

The latter part of Jor-El's explanation was drowned out by Cameron's reaction. "You're PREGNANT!" Maya nodded; clearly embarrassed the news was exposed in this manner. Seeing his girlfriend in such a state caused Cameron to calm down. "Is this what you were going to tell me back at base?"

Maya nodded, which made Cameron round on Thomas. "Did you know?" Hawkeye shook his head, which seemed to lessen Cameron's anger as he focused on him. "Good, because if you'd her go on a mission when she was pregnant, I would've shot you. And I'll do it in the future if I have to. It wouldn't kill you, but it would make me feel better."

"Do you honestly expect to give up my missions simply because I am pregnant? Am I now too weak to do battle?" Maya's tone took on a subtle hint of anger, which Cameron immediately picked up.

"Sorry, I just got little worked up for a second. Can we discuss this in a more private setting later? If I recall, Hawkeye had something to discuss with Jor-El." Cam looked to Hawkeye to get things back on track.

"Jor-El, do you have access to deep-space communication at this time?"

"I do."

"Could you contact Oa? I need to speak with Hal Jordan."

"I will initiate contact immediately. Be advised that it will a considerable amount of time for our communication signal to reach Oa. I will inform you when it has been established."

"Thank you." Hawkeye turned back to the team. "You guys get the emergency rations out of the ship."

* * *

**May 3rd – 6:47 a.m.  
****Location unknown**

Vandal Savage awoke to the painful feeling of his body putting itself back together. For a man who was over 50,000 years old and had fought in countless wars, this was not an unfamiliar sensation, but as he felt his tissues knitting themselves slowly back together he wished that the healing factor was less painful. Immediately after coming back to life he was aware of someone staring at him from a computer. He was aware of the pain in his back and abdomen so he turned his head to ascertain who was watching. He was not surprised to find Lex Luthor staring back at him.

"And like the mythical Lazarus, he awakens."

"I was Lazarus."

"Plausible, but I did not call to merely check on your health. I assume, given your condition that you are unaware of the developments?"

Savage shook his head. "No, after I was thrown I remember nothing else."

"Understandable, consider you were thrown 17 stories. It appears that young Hawkeye has quite the grudge against you, we may have underestimated his team's ability."

"As well as their willingness to use violence to achieve their aims." Savage sat up on the table as his body was nearly fully healed. "I take it we did not recover the Kryptonian?"

Luthor sighed. "No, she was gone from the water when our team's moved in. Satellite images show Hawkeye was on the scene and that the alien left with them, though we were unable to track them."

Savage slammed a fist down on the table. "These 'Outlaws' are proving to be more than a mere nuisance. And yet they are not our biggest problem. It seems that Godfrey was no ordinary reporter, if I understood his words correctly, and the one he serves will destroy us if we do not find a suitable defense."


	4. Lay of The Land

**May 2****nd**** – 12:02 p.m.  
****Fortress of Solitude**

After Jor-El began attempting to contact Oa, Thomas turned his attention to the immediate matters at hand. First order of business was to make sure the team was getting settled in with the emergency supplies from the ship. Hawkeye was never more thankful to have member of the Bat family on the. Jason's annoying habit of being over-prepared for any outcome was proving to be quite the asset. With their supplies and the help of Superman's robots, the main hall of the Fortress had been transformed into an area fit for human living.

After getting the cots setup Roy began to wonder about the current situation. "So, who is this Jor-El, exactly?"

Hawkeye was about to answer before Kara cut him off. "He was my uncle; he crafted the A.I. of this Fortress after himself."

"Speaking of the Fortress, we're in the middle of the arctic. Why aren't we freezing to death?" The rest of the team all listened for the response to this question from Arsenal. Since their arrival they had all noticed that the temperature was far more comfortable than they would have imagined, so much so that they no longer needed the parkas.

This time Hawkeye fielded the question. "I asked Superman the same thing when I first came here. See all these crystals?" Hawkeye motioned to the crisscrossing crystals all around the team. "They aren't ice. They're Kryptonian architecture. This is essentially a house, which means all the outside elements are kept at bay."

"Who is this 'Superman' you speak of?" Kara's sincere confusion made the team fully realize how out of the loop she was.

Thomas dragged his left hand down his face in frustration, thinking about how much the girl would have to learn. "I'll fill you in a second Kara. I've got something private to discuss with Cameron and Maya." Hawkeye motioned for the soon to be parents to follow him in one of the ante-chambers near the door.

As soon as the door shut he initiated the conversation. "Obviously this situation is pretty messed up. And Maya, if you want to back out of this, I understand. Protecting your child should be your main concern. If you choose to stay, though, that can't be your main focus on missions. We need to know that everyone on the mission will give their lives to protect each other and if you stay with us I fully expect you to live up to that. I know it sounds harsh, but that's how it has to be at this stage of the game."

Maya didn't respond, simply standing in silence while Cameron wrapped his arm around her. "What about me?"

"You, Cameron, are going to have to stay committed to this team. We are so far down the rabbit hole I can't lose anyone else, especially if we're going to pull off my plan."

Cameron cocked his head. "You've got a plan all of sudden?"

Thomas smiled confidently. "You should know by now to never doubt me Cameron." Thomas stepped toward the door, pausing to place a hand on Maya's shoulder. "Regardless of your two's decision I want to say congratulations, and good luck."

Thomas closed the door behind him so that the two could converse in peace. He re-entered the central area where he found Arsenal, Red Hood, and Kara standing around awkwardly.

"Hood." Jason focused his attention on Thomas when the latter spoke. "Get on the horn to Oracle, tell her to dig up the locations of our retired friends and give us an update on the laptop we grabbed from Waller."

Hawkeye turned his attention to Arsenal. "Find that robot that granted us access and see about getting the rest of the Fortress up and running, we're going to have quite a few guests coming. When you and Hood are done, unload everything out of the ship, we'll need all the space to pack up the Star City base and move the stuff here."

As the two men got to work, Thomas faced Kara. For the first time, he took the time to actually take in the girl's appearance. The Kryptonian girl was clothed in a black body suit that clung to her every curve, and Thomas took the time to notice each and every one.

He quickly realized he was staring, however, and pushed through the feeling of his cheek's reddening to approach Kara. "Now, how about we get you acquainted with Earth?"

Kara smiled shyly. "I would love that."

* * *

For the next few hours Thomas and Kara were holed up in a computer room just outside the main hall. Kara had been using the Kryptonian computer tech while Thomas answered all of her questions about the current state of affairs, including the incident at Mumbai. In truth, Hawkeye didn't understand what she was doing on the computer, but he assumed it was simply research.

"The League didn't really blow up that city did they?"

"No." Hawkeye's reply was terse, causing Kara to realize she touched on a sensitive subject. Before she could remedy her mistake, Thomas continued speaking. "Someone played us, got the world to turn on us. We've been fighting ever since to put things right, but we fail at every step. We have no idea where our friends are, or what those assholes have done to them, if they're even still alive."

Hawkeye slammed the console in front of him in anger. He felt Kara's hand on his just before she tried to calm his anger. "You will find your friends." The girl broke into a wide smile. "After all, you haven't had a full-blooded Kryptonian on your team." Kara hovered into the air, twirling to show off. Unfortunately she flew straight into the ceiling, causing a piece of ice to knock Thomas on the head.

The impact didn't faze Thomas too much, but he did rub his head where the ice made contact. "Seems the issue with your strength isn't the only problem, is it? Before we even consider putting you on our team, you're going to need training."

Kara returned to the ground, crossing her arms at the perceived slight. "I could level this entire Fortress if I wanted to."

"Kara, there's a difference between having power and knowing how to use it. My team and I have been working together for over a year, throwing you in to the mix would be a big mistake."

Kara saw the logic in his argument. "Fine, but you can't expect me to sit on the sidelines. I am 19, fully capable of making my own decisions."

Hawkeye stepped forward, coming to a stop a foot from Kara. He had to look down at her given she stood four inches shorter than him. Kara noticed the man staring down at him with a playful smile on his face. "Oh, I never said you'd be on the sidelines. I believe I said you'd need training. And I meant it."

Kara raised herself up to Thomas's eye level, sticking her tongue out at him. After they both shared a laugh they realized how close they were. Kara immediately moved back a foot, rubbing her left arm with her right. "Just what did you have in mind?"

Hawkeye held a finger to tell her to wait, then touched his comm device. "Oracle, you online?"

"_Yeah, Hood tells me you're up in the Fortress. Should have told you-know-who about the trip, might have gotten him out the room."_

"I think it'd take a lot more than that. I take it Jay filled you in on the situation?"

"_So you really did find Superman's cousin? So was Jay telling me the truth when he said the girl couldn't keep her eyes off you?"_

Hawkeye chose to ignore the latter question. "She's the real deal, Oracle, but I need you to call a friend."

"_Not going to answer my question? I'm offended Hawkeye. In all seriousness, you do seem to have a way with the more 'super' female heroes if you catch my meaning."_

Hawkeye was growing annoyed with his friend's attempt at humor. "Oracle, this isn't a social call."

"_Right, back to business. Sorry about that, don't get a lot of human interaction these days. So, who am I calling?"_

"Wonder Woman. Someone needs to train Kara while the rest of us get the band back together. Any luck finding the rest of the team?"

"_I've found most of them. Helps to know most of their civilian identities from memory even if Batman did wipe the files. If she takes my call, when should I say you'll be arriving?"_

"Whenever I hear back from Hal."

"_Roger that. Oracle out."_

Hawkeye clicked off the comm and refocused on Kara. "I assume you heard all that?"

"Yeah, benefits of super-hearing, but didn't you just finish telling me that Wonder Woman was holed up on her home island and was unreachable."

"I guess you're right, but she took her comm with her and she's smart, she wouldn't have destroyed it. Besides, I've been to the island a few times and know where it is, even if it is hidden. Once you've been there, you'll be able to see it. Unless you're banished, which I'm pretty sure I'm not. I mean, I spent the night with with Wonder Woman's sister, but I don't think she'd hold a grudge this long, not when the world's at stake." Hawkeye's face betrayed the worry that his words projected. Thankfully, this passed without Kara noticing.

Before either of them could speak, Jor-El's booming voice could be heard. "I have contacted Oa. The connection has been enhanced by the Guardian's technology and is in real-time." In a few seconds a screen popped above the computer console, and it was filled by Hal Jordan's face.

"_Hawkeye! Aren't you a sight for sore eyes!"_

"Good to see you too, Hal! How's Oa?"

"_Busy as always. Things still bad back on Earth?"_

"They're about to get a whole lot worse."

"_So I take this isn't a social call?"_ Hal's eyes widened when he saw the girl standing next to Thomas. He was even more surprised to see Cameron, Maya, Roy, and Jason all filter in to the room behind Hawkeye.

"That's a negative, ghost rider." Hawkeye stood back to allow his team to step forward. "We've managed to pull off some hit and run tactics on The Light, but have come up empty on finding anyone."

Jason picked up where Thomas left off. "Hey Hal. Like Hawk said, we've been partially successful, even got Waller back on our side. But we've got some big effing news and we're going to need all the help we can get. Think your little blue buddies can spare some manpower?"

"_No offense, but aren't GLs going to draw a little too much attention on Earth right now?"_

Hawkeye resumed control of the conversation. "I would have said the same thing yesterday, but then I found out who's really been pulling the strings around here."

"_Who?"_

"Darkseid."

_Darkseid? You can't be serious; Supes kicked his ass last time. What makes you think that?"_ Hal wasn't the only one surprised by the news. While Thomas and Jason had read the mission files on Darkseid's attack nearly a decade ago, Cameron and Maya had only hear secondhand accounts. Instead of surprised, Kara mere asked a question.

"You mean the ruler of Apokolips?"

Everyone's head turned to the alien. She shrugged. "We heard of his vileness even on Krypton."

Hal was now thoroughly confused. _"Who's the girl?"_

"I am Kara Zor-El, cousin of Kal-El."

Hal's face contorted in shock. "You mean, she's…"

Hawkeye answered Hal's unfinished question. "Superman's cousin. Like I said, a lot's been happening here. Remember that reporter, Godfrey? We caught him threatening Savage, mentioning that his master wouldn't hesitate to melt Vandal with his Omega Beams if he didn't surrender the planet. You know anyone else that uses Omega Beams? And in case you didn't notice, we don't have Superman anymore. While there's no doubt Kara's powerful, she isn't trained to take on a man who might actually live up to the claim of being a god."

Hal was silent for a moment before he nodded. _"I hear ya, but even at top speed, I'm a long way from Earth. Any idea how long until he attacks?"_

"No, but I intend to find out. I think it's time we make an appointment with President."

"_Good luck. I'll round up who I can out here and put out the call to the Hawks too. I just hope we can make it in time."_

"So do we Hal. We'll do what we can to make sure there's still an Earth when you get here."

After closing the feed, Thomas turned to the team. "Alright people, we've got work to do."


	5. The Island

**Thanks to everyone who's reviewed this so far. I just want to point there a quite a few more obscure comic book names in this chapter. If you get confused I'd suggest maybe using the DC wiki to look up the names. For instance, I'm using the Amazon called Artemis as she is depicted the '09 Wonder Woman animated film. There is also mentions of Big Barda and Desaad.**

**Enjoy!**

* * *

**May 3 – 8:47 a.m.  
****Themiscyra**

Wonder Woman sat cross-legged on the beach of Themiscyra, her eyes closed in an attempt to meditate. Peace had been surprisingly hard to come by after her return to the island. At first, she attributed her inability to focus to the incident forcing her to return home. But after several months on the island, the emptiness she felt continued to haunt her. Lately, her inability to handle her emotional state had manifested itself in bouts of rage. Diana was no stranger to anger, but during yesterday evening's training the Princess of the Amazon's had completely lost her cool.

Diana had participated in routine training session with her mentor, Artemis. In truth, Green Arrow's protégé was similar in many respects, but this Artemis was nearly two thousand years old. Artemis was a talented fighter, and was the first ambassador to man's world years before Diana won the role, but Wonder Woman was the superior of the two by far. To make things even, Artemis consistently badgered the younger woman with tactics that were sure to anger her, in the hope that Diana's anger would cause her to make a mistake. For the first round it appeared the tactic wouldn't work, but things changed quickly when Artemis made a remark about Diana failing her mission to bring peace to the world. Something inside the Amazonian woman snapped, and the next thing she remembered was coming to atop of Artemis, her fists wet with the blood of the latter. After seeing her friend's beaten body on the sands of the training ground, Diana flew off to the beach, shocked by her own actions.

Over the course of the last 14 hours, Diana began to get a better understanding of her current state. What Artemis had said in the coliseum sparked a new theory as to why Diana had grown so angry and frustrated since her return. When she was forced back to the island, she had essentially conceded defeat in her mission to bring peace into man's world, even if she had never truly acknowledged it. But it wasn't just the failure; it was the loss of a sense of purpose. In man's world she was Wonder Woman, someone who could affect real change. Here, she was just Diana, daughter of the Queen, a queen who had completely isolated the island from the outside world. Only those who had ever been to the island could find it and Diana could count the outsiders who'd been to the island on her hands and toes. Most of them were probably imprisoned or dead. Diana reached into her ear and pulled out her JLA comm unit. Since her return she had never let the device out of ear shot, silently hopeful that someone would activate it, but only know did she see the futility and readied to throw it into the ocean.

Saying she was shocked when it buzzed at an incoming call would have been an understatement. She tentatively placed the comm back in her and tapped the device, quite curious who could be calling 13 months after she last used it.

"_Wonder Woman, this Oracle. Do you read me?"_

The voice sounded startlingly similar to Diana's ears. "Batgirl?"

"_It's Oracle now, glad you still have your ear piece."_

"Your timing is most fortunate, I was about to throw it in the ocean."

"_What the hell would do that for?"_

"I saw no point in hoping for a call to arms that would never come."

"_Well, then I guess it was pointless to call you on Hawkeye's behalf then. I'll just hang up now."_

"Wait, what does he want?" Diana felt a spike in anger at the man's name, mostly due to her assumption that he had slept with her sister, Cassandra.

"_He wants to speak with you in person."_

"He knows full well what would happen if he came back." The malice in her voice was plainly evident.

"_Yeah, well, I'm pretty sure you'll make and exception for this one."_

"And why would I do such a thing?"

"_Because of who he's bringing along. Trust me D; you're going to want to see this."_

* * *

"Ready to roll, Kara?" Hawkeye's voice drifted back from the pilot's chair as Kara entered the Javelin. Fortunately, Batman had decided to spread around the Justice League tech to several secure locations before he went underground, with one of those locations being the Fortress of Solitude. But it wasn't until the number seven robot made mention of the technology that anyone on the team was aware of its existence. Now with two serviceable stealth crafts, Thomas decided to split his team. He and Kara would head to Themiscyra, while the rest would head back to Star City and start moving their equipment and weapons to the fortress. After that, they'd meet at the base one last time and start rounding up as many of the old team as they could.

"Yeah, ready when you are." Kara slid into the co-pilot's seat as Thomas fired up the engines and turned on the stealth mode. "But why can't we just fly there ourselves?"

Thomas double-checked his instruments and signaled the hangar door to open while answering the question. "Well, at your top speed, I have no doubt you could get there without getting picked up by any satellites. That wouldn't be the case for me. A trail of flame would be spotted pretty easily by Luthor's tech."

Kara was satisfied with the answer and remained silent until Thomas had the craft airborne. "So we're really going to an island of warrior women?"

"That's the plan."

"And they will help me train my powers?"

"Don't see why they wouldn't. We'll need you at 100% A.S.A.P. if we're going up against Darkseid. Back at the Fortress, you said you'd heard of him. Care to fill me in?"

"I thought you knew of him already?"

"Well, I only read the Justice League file from their first encounter with him about a decade ago and it's pretty sparse on the details. Back then Darkseid came to Earth thinking it would be a cakewalk, but your cousin and the League beat him pretty good and sent him packing. But other than that, we don't have a lot of information on him. We know he rules Apokolips, is pretty much a god, and has a thing for conquering planets."

"I see. Darkseid does indeed rule Apokolips and has conquered hundreds of worlds, all in the name of supplementing his war machine. His army of parademons is formidable and their technology, developed by Desaad, would by itself be enough to conquer most planets in the galaxy. If that is not enough, his personal guard, the Furies, are dispatched eliminate any remaining threats."

"We've heard of them. Their leader, Big Barda, defected to Wonder Woman during that initial battle with Darkseid."

"If that is true, it is a major accomplishment. For someone to throw off the indoctrination of Granny Goodness is no simple task. But even with her, the battle will be arduous to say the least. Yet if you manage to stop his assault on the planet, Darkseid has one last tactic: the Hellspores. The machines are capable of burning a hole into a planet's core, thus creating a Firepit. A single Firepit would be enough to ravage the Earth, causing the volcanoes around the world to erupt due to the enormous pressure, thus devastating the atmosphere and killing the population. Darkseid would then claim the planet and its mineral resources, possibly terraforming the planet as outpost."

"Well, that sounds…awful."

"Indeed, it would be a tragic fate if such a beautiful world were to be destroyed."

"If you think what you've seen so far is beautiful, just wait until you see Themiscyra. In fact, we're just about there."

Kara peered out the window. "Where is it? I can only see the water."

"Themiscyra is protected by magic. It's kind of in between dimensions. People can essentially sail right through it and have no clue it's there. Since I've been there, I can see the island. Once we pass through the dimensional barrier, you'll be able to see it, which should happen…now."

Just as Thomas spoke, the air around the craft shimmered and where before there had only been water there was now an island. Kara gasped as she took in the site of the picturesque isle that Hawkeye had told her of. She noticed the white stone cliffs that all but surrounded the island, leaving a lone eastern beach. The forest on the northern end looked vibrant against the ocean surrounding it. Before she could take any more of it in, Thomas's voice grabbed her attention.

"This is Hawkeye calling Wonder Woman. We're setting down on the beach as instructed. See you there."

"_Acknowledged."_

After Wonder Woman's brief communication, Thomas and Kara made for the rear of the ship as the hatch lowered onto the sand. Thomas descended down the ramp first and looked back to watch Kara follow behind him, meaning that when he took his first step onto the island he wasn't able to see Wonder Woman speed toward him and deliver a blow to his chest. The blow sent him rolling in the sand, nearly to the water's edge about 50 feet from the ship.

"Ow." Thomas gingerly felt his chest as he lay on the ground looking up at the sky, noting what felt like two broken ribs that were already beginning to heal. Thomas's eyes were soon shadowed by Wonder Woman standing over top of him. "Well, I guess I should have expected that, even if I don't deserve it."

"Don't deserve it?" Wonder Woman was even more angered by the man's response. But before she could lash out with her foot, Kara pulled her back several feet and held her at bay. Immediately after that the voice of Queen Hera brought the fight to a halt.

"That's quite enough of that. What is this meaning of this hostility?"

Wonder Woman was about to explain the situation, but Thomas beat her to it after picking himself up off the ground. "Hello again your highness. I believe your daughter is quite mad at me for an incident involving her half-sister, Cassandra. But if she would let me explain, I would have said that nothing _actually_ happened between the two of us other than us talking for a few hours and me crashing in her room at the cave." Thomas turned to fully face Diana. "Plus, I haven't seen her in over a year since all this crap went down. Now if you don't mind, can we get down to the reason I'm here?"

At the explanation Diana visibly relaxed. "You never slept with her?"

"No, you just caught me coming out of the room and assumed the worst. She'll back me up on that too."

"Oh."

"Well, ok then. So, I assume Oracle filled you in?"

"She did." Wonder Woman looked over Kara who had moved back to stand beside Thomas. "You are Kal-El's cousin?"

Kara nodded. "I am, I'm told you will helping to train me. From what Thomas tells me, you are the best for such a job, short of Kal-El himself."

Kara's word choice caused Diana to remember Superman's decision to turn himself in. It had caused a huge rift between the two and she had never even told him goodbye before she left. Now she had no clue if he was still alive. "I suppose Hawkeye is correct in his assessment."

Queen Hera re-entered the conversation. "You have our permission to train here. But if you choose to, I must warn you that it will be difficult. Are you certain this is what you want?"

"It is. If we have any hope of defeating Darkseid, I have to do this."

Wonder Woman's eyes widened considerably. "Darkseid?! Why did no one tell us he was about to attack?"

Thomas face palmed himself. "I thought Oracle told you. I'm going to kill that girl when I get back to Gotham. Look, I've got to get back to the world, but I'll have her fill you in on the situation."

"You're leaving?" Kara grabbed Thomas's hand before he turned to head back into the Javelin.

Thomas squeezed her hand as he replied. "I've got to, I need to find the heroes who are still alive and aren't in prison. I promise I'll be back soon though." Thomas smiled before turning quickly to the Javelin and taking off back to the mainland.

Wonder Woman walked beside Kara who watched as the Javelin soared through the sky. "While I may not be his biggest supporter, if Hawkeye says he needs to be somewhere, then he truly needs to be there. I am certain he will return as he said he would. Now, let us get you settled in before training."

* * *

**May 3****rd**** – 11:12 p.m.  
****The White House**

President Luthor walked into the Oval Office after a meeting with the Joint Chiefs. Being the President and a contributing member of The Light was quite the daunting task, and he found himself more run down than he had at any point since assuming the office. When he slumped into his chair behind the desk he wanted nothing more than to crash right then and there, but a blu-ray player sitting on the desk grabbed his attention. There was a post-it note attached to the top which read:

_Play me! – H._

Luthor cracked open the player, and was surprised when the face of a hero, Hawkeye, consumed the screen.

"Hey there, Luthor. Don't worry about how I got in to get this on your desk, just be certain I can do it again anytime I want to. Besides, I have no doubt you are well aware of the danger that's coming to Earth. What I haven't seen is you and your buddies do anything about it. I mean, not even a single report about a military buildup, and rest assured that my intel is exceedingly accurate. This leads back to my only demand. You know full well that the only thing to defeat Darkseid in the past was Superman and the Justice League. If you don't release them, or tell me where they are, then the world is going to burn. If you're ok with that result, then you are far less of a pragmatist than I thought. If you want to save the planet, then you know what you have to do. I'll be seeing you around Luthor."

After the screen went blank the device began to smoke and smolder as the interior of the player melted. Furious that the bastard Hawkeye had gotten in to the White House, Luthor threw the player against the wall in a fit of rage. As he fell back into his chair he pondered what his, and The Light's, next course of action would be.


	6. Back From The Dead

**Shout out to my beta, Ansa88. Also, thanks to the reviewers, keep them coming!**

* * *

**May 3****rd**** – 11:45 p.m.  
Star City**

As Hawkeye brought the Javelin into the loading bay the team met him at the rear hatch. While on the way back from D.C., Thomas had patched the team in on the blu-ray player's hidden security cam. Jason found it to be quite entertaining.

"Ha! I can't believe you actually pulled it off! The look on Luthor's face was fucking priceless!"

Maya was second to offer her thoughts on the matter. "Even I have to admit, it was a skillful display of stealth to break into the Oval Office."

Hawkeye smiled. "Thanks guys, I've got to say that seeing Luthor get all frustrated was pretty damn awesome. But we need to get back to work." Hawkeye focused his gaze on Cameron and Maya. "Have you two come to a decision?"

Cameron squeezed Maya around the middle. "We have." He nodded for Maya to tell everyone the news.

"I have begrudgingly admitted I should probably not be out in the field, but we are too undermanned for me to remain wholly on the sideline. As such, I want to remain active, but I will do so as the team's pilot."

Thomas mulled over the proposal for a moment. "Works for me. And to you point about being undermanned, I don't think that will be the case much longer."

Arsenal perked up in the back of the group. "Meaning?"

"Meaning we're getting the old band back together. Arsenal, considering your people skills are a little underdeveloped, you'll be helping Cameron and Maya finished hauling all the tech from base back to the Fortress, then you'll meet us in Gotham."

The heroes quickly sprang into action, loading up the armory quickly as it was the last thing to be shuttled to the Fortress. When it was all loaded up Thomas gave a quick wave to Cameron, Maya and Arsenal just before the three took off. When they were gone Thomas turned to Jason.

"First stop is Blüdhaven; we're picking up an old friend."

Hood gave no objection as he boarded the Javelin. Thomas took once last look around the base before throwing the breaker on the main power, effectively shutting down the base for good. With the power out, Thomas fired up the Javelin and took off towards the east.

* * *

**May 4****th**** – 2:12 a.m.  
Blüdhaven**

After two hours of flight Red Hood and Hawkeye were setting down in atop of an apartment complex in Blüdhaven. The building itself was quite rundown, much like the city it was a part of. The whole neighborhood was smack dab in the middle of the city's most crime ridden section, even people from Gotham knew that this part of the city was one not entered into lightly. All of this made Jason curious as to who they were picking up.

"So, don't get me wrong, I'm sure you have a plan, but who the hell would live here? 'Wing used to, but he hasn't for a long time."

Thomas used his best sensei voice to answer. "Have patience young grasshopper, all will be revealed in due time."

"Well, 'in due time' better hurry the fuck up. I don't like being kept in the dark." Jason tried to open the roof door, only to find it dead-bolted from the inside. "I didn't bring my pick kit; does the great leader have a way around this?"

"Red, seriously, calm the hell down." Hawkeye just brushed past Red Hood and yanked the door back, separating it cleanly from its hinges. "See, not a problem. I swear, you guys always forget I'm actually a super soldier."

"Yeah, yeah, spare me the sob story. Can we just get back to it please?" Jason descended down the stairs and paused at the top floor, waiting for Thomas to lead the way.

"Aw, using the magic word and everything. I'm so proud of you!" Hawkeye walked in front of Jason, who looked like he was ready to punch the former in the face, and started down the hallway. He stopped when he reach the door number 917 and knocked on the door.

After a few seconds of waiting Jason again grew impatient. "Seriously, who are we picking up here?"

Jason got his answer when a familiar red head with green eyes flung the door open wielding a knife. "Who the hell is knocking at two in the damn morning! Oh, hey! Arty, it's Hawkeye and that guy with the red helmet!"

"My name is Red Hood, West. How fucking hard is it to remember that! And where the hell have you guys been for the last year?"

Wally put away the knife as he ushered the two inside the apartment. Artemis, now sporting brown hair, had heard the question and fielded the question as she walked into the room. "When everything went down, our identities were compromised. So we've been in hiding since we faked our deaths. I think we've left the apartment maybe twice in the last nine months."

"How did you get food?"

"Me." Jason's attention was pulled back to Thomas. "You know those solo patrols I told Nightwing I'd do in Blüdhaven? Well, they were cover for food and supply runs for these knuckleheads." Hawkeye went over to hug Artemis. "I got to say; blonde is definitely your color. Why'd you dye it?"

"Well, I had to make an emergency run. We ran out of a pretty important item and needed a refill."

"It was condoms, wasn't it?" At Hawkeye's blunt question Wally blushed slightly though it didn't seem to affect the formerly blonde archer. "You could have just called, you know."

"Well, like I said. It was an emergency." Artemis walked over to her closet and pulled out two heavily laden duffle bags and threw one at Wally. "So, we leaving?"

Wally caught the bag. "What, we're leaving?"

"Yeah Kid Moron, clearly something's going on since he brought the helmet kid."

"It's RED HOOD!"

"Whatever. Wally, just look in the bag and let's go." Artemis was already to the door by the time Wally opened the bag. He opened it to find his suit and goggles all packed away.

"Babe, you rock." In a blur, the speedster was quickly in uniform. He checked himself out in the mirror by the door. "Not bad, a little snug around the waist, but damn does it feel good. So, you got a jet topside?" Hawkeye nodded. "Sweet, meet you there!" After flashing a million watt smile, Kid Flash was back in action, racing up the roof. Artemis just rolled her eyes as the remaining three followed behind.

"God, he can be so annoying!"

Jason was still stuck on the fact that she and Wally had been living together for a whole year. "Wait, so how did you two not kill each other? I mean, I couldn't stand living with a speedster for a week, let alone a year."

"Well, Hawkeye made sure didn't go stir crazy. Things like movies, games, TV shows among a variety of other things. And then there was the time honored way of two people of the opposite gender passing the time in the bedroom."

Before the archer could elaborate any further Hawkeye interrupted. "Arty, there's a seventeen year old present. Let's keep the sexual details to a minimum, wouldn't want his virgin mind to be tainted."

Jason punched Thomas in the shoulder. "Shut up, seriously. I've been tortured, killed in a fiery explosion, and resurrected. Hearing about Artemis's activities is what concerns you?"

Artemis laughed at Jason's attitude as they trio finally started entering the Javelin. "Jason, Thomas was just being sarcastic."

"Well, maybe he shou – wait, you know my name?"

"Well, yeah. I've known about Bruce and Dick for a few years and even knew you were Robin. Then you showed up during that Court of Owls mess, but it wasn't hard to figure out who were. In all seriousness though, it's good to see you again."

The sudden tonal shift in the conversation was disconcerting for the young hero. "Thanks. Good to see you too, Crock."

* * *

**May 4****th**** 4:30 a.m  
Star City – Queen Manor**

"If we left Star City for Blüdhaven why didn't we just pick up the people here first?" Jason was not liking the plan thus far, mostly because Hawkeye was keeping him out the loop.

"Because the two we just picked up need to have a nice and dramatic entrance. Besides, I want to see the look on Queen's face when Artemis walks in."

Jason thought through the situation for a moment. "Good enough. Doesn't West have to change out of his uniform?"

Wally looked crestfallen. "What? I just got back in it!"

He was quickly slapped on the back of the head by Artemis. "Because Baywatch, their identities are still secure. Wouldn't do much good for us to stroll up to the Queen Manor in our outfits would it?

"Oh, right. Nobody look." In a flash Wally was out of his uniform and back in civilian clothes.

Thomas brought the cloaked Javelin to rest in the open ground behind the manor. The engines caused debris to fly up and hit the side of the house, thus causing someone in the house to turn on the lights. In a few moments time Oliver Queen and Dinah Lance stormed out of the house ready to fight, but they weren't prepared to see Artemis Crock and Wally West walking down the ramp of a Javelin.

"Artemis!" The two older heroes quickly ran to the archer and encompasses her in a hug.

Wally stood off the side. "So, hi, I guess." Dinah quickly reeled in the speedster to make the trio into a quartet of huggers. After a minute Oliver pulled away from the group. "How are you two still here? When Batman said you didn't make it…"

Artemis wrapped her mentor in another hug. "He helped us fake our deaths. With you two out of the game and our identities compromised, we couldn't risk going back to you. There will more time to explain once we're airborne."

"Airborne?"

Dinah shook her head. "Ollie dear, I think they want us to go with them."

"We're retired, why would we come back now?"

Hawkeye had walked down the ramp and answered the question. "Because we're facing an imminent attack from Darkseid. The plan is to round up as many heroes as we can, track down Darkseid's agent on Earth and get him to talk, then break out the captured heroes. So, you coming?"

Oliver and Dinah were silent for a moment before Dinah turned to whisper something to her husband. After the two privately conversed for a moment Dinah announced their decision. "I'm coming with you, but Oliver won't." Without another word Dinah went back inside.

"Since I'm mayor of Star City, it wouldn't do any good for me to leave right when Green Arrow makes his return. Plus, I can help organize shelters and the like when Darkseid hits. I take it won't be a cakewalk like last time?"

Thomas shook his head. "No, I think he learned his lesson last time considering how long he's been pulling the strings to make an invasion easier this time around. He'll be brining everything he's got this time."

"Well, then I wish you good luck. If there's anything you need, just let me know."

Artemis was quick to ask a question. "Mind if I raid your armory? I mean, not like you'll be using it and I'm bone dry on supplies."

"Sure, take what you need."

Hawkeye just smirked. "I already took the liberty of stealing all your stuff. It's been taken to our new base."

At that moment Dinah came back out of the house wearing her traditional blue jacket and black top. "So where's this new base?"

"The Fortress of Solitude."

"We going there first."

"No, we need to make a stop in Coast City first, then we're headed to Gotham." As Hawkeye, Wally, and Jason loaded up the Javelin, Artemis stopped to give one final farewell to her mentor.

"It was good seeing you again, Ollie."

"You too kid, stay safe."

* * *

**May 4 – 8:37 a.m.  
Gotham City**

"Yo Oracle, we got a Javelin full of heroes and everybody's waiting on you!"

"Master Todd, you should know not to rush Miss Gordon. It will serve no purpose in the long run."

"I know Alfie, I know. But still, we really are waiting on her and Dick before we head up to the Fortress."

"I'm sure she will be along shortly."

"So, think Thomas will be able to get Dick out of his damn room?"

"Language, young man! And I highly doubt he will be successful in his attempt, but one can hope."

Elsewhere in Oracle's soon to be decommissioned base Thomas stood outside the door of Dick Grayson's room. The man formerly known as Nightwing had been holed up in the room for the last 9 months, walling himself off from the world after Batman fell to Checkmate. The weight of his failings and the deaths they caused consumed him. Alfred, Barbara, Jason and Thomas had tried to buoy his spirits, but he only sank deeper and deeper into depression.

"Dick, if you don't open this door right the hell now I am going to kick it down!"

Silence was the only response that greeted Hawkeye, who followed through on his threat and kicked the door clean of its hinges. The room was filled with light, though Dick clung to the darkness. Thomas saw his friend cowering in the shadow.

"Fine if you won't talk to me, then maybe I'll go get someone who can."

"Who do you think could possibly get me out of this room?"

"Ah, he deigns to speak with me! And I think a certain red head might be able to get you off your ass."

"Nice try, Babs hasn't exactly been the best company lately."

"Well, at least she makes you eat. But I was thinking of an altogether different red head. And this one is male."

"Roy? Like he'd ever get back in the game now the he's a dad."

"Nah, try again."

"Surely you aren't talking about his clone?"

Suddenly a quick breeze flew into the room, followed by Wally purposefully ignoring Dick, instead focusing on Hawkeye. "God he is really is dumb isn't he?"

"I know, fool still won't believe you aren't dead."

"Exactly! You'd think my standing here would prove to the almighty Nightwing that I'm certainly not dead and he shouldn't feel guilty for _not_ killing me, but I guess it just isn't good enough. Well, then I'm leaving."

Wally turned to leave before Dick pulled himself from his bed and into the light.

"Wally, wait." Dick's face was completely pale; it had long since lost its tone from lack of sunlight. His appearance made Wally nearly gasp in shock to see his friend in such a state. When Hawkeye had told him that Dick had isolated himself out of guilt, the speedster didn't want to believe him. But looking at the man before him, he could see that Thomas was underestimating the situation. In fact, the acrobat looked physically much smaller, his mental trauma dealing out equal punishment to his body. He'd lost a substantial amount of muscle mass, though he thankfully didn't appear to be malnourished.

Wally sped over and picked up his friend bridal style. "Good, you're up. Now we can go."

"Where are we going?"

"Why, the Fortress of Solitude of course? Where else would we go when Darkseid's about to invade and kill us all? Wally sped the two out of the room toward the Javelin while Hawkeye made his way back to the main room where he found Barbara Gordon packing the last of her things for the trip. Before he could say anything she turned in her wheelchair.

"I see Wally got him out of bed."

"Yeah, that was the easy part."

"Easy?"

"B, you know how bad things got for him. Getting back into the world was a massive first step forward, but we both know he's got a long way to go before he gets his head on straight."

Barbara nodded. "I know."

Thomas moved to push Barbara down the path to the Javelin, but she tried to stop him. "I can push myself."

"Yeah, but you've doing enough of that lately, what with being all awesome as Oracle. Besides, maybe you should just let people help you every now and then."

"Fine, but I am wheeling myself up that Javelin ramp."

"You got it, Gordon."

* * *

**Apokolips**

"Godfrey, what is urgent enough to require a personal audience with me?"

"Your eminence, I must inform you of developments on Earth."

"What requires my attention?"

"A young Kryptonian girl has landed on Earth. The markings on her shuttle claim she is Kal-El's cousin." The mention of Kal-El's name caused Darkseid to slam his right fist down on his throne. "My lord, should we not move to begin our assault? With the Kryptonian they may yet thwart our plans if given time to prepare.

"Silence! Do not presume to lecture me on strategy. We will wait for Desaad to return from Tamaran with his army. We will garner our full force and our invasion of Earth will be successful. Even the Kal-El will bow before I disintegrate his body." Darkseid stood tall in front of his throne as he spoke. "You, Godfrey, will return to Earth and observe the humans."

Godfrey bowed low. "As you command, Lord Darkseid."


	7. Reunion and Revelation

**This chapter delves a little bit into the Guardians of the Universe and some of the Green Lantern mythology. The Guardians are the beings who give the Green Lanterns their power. Ganthet, the Guardian in this chapter is one of the more prominent members.  
**

**May 4 – 2:30 p.m.  
Fortress of Solitude**

"Oh my god, this place is so cool!" As she exited The Outlaw's ship, Cassie Sandsmark's enthusiastic voice rang throughout the massive Kryptonian structure.

"Si, chico, Superman sure has nice digs." Jaime Reyes joined Wonder Girl's in the admiration of the Fortress as he too exited the ship.

After the two heroes exited they were followed by Jason and Roy, who had both traveled to pick up a few remaining heroes at Thomas's request. The two younger men had not expected so many heroes to willingly get back in the game, but they were happily surprised to find as much success as they did. Case in point were the members of Sigma Squad, a group of the newest heroes who had begun training right before the heroes were outlawed. Cameron and Maya were both former members of that team who had been recruited by Thomas to join the Outlaws. Once Roy explained that they would be allowed to see their two friends, the other six members of Sigma volunteered on the spot.

"I can't believe we're all back together again!" Penny, Sigma's magnetic expert, was extremely excited to be with her friends again. While Sam had moved in with her after the Mumbai incident, Penny hadn't seen or heard from the team.

"I know, and we get to see Superman's base!" Tom, the pyrokinetic of the team, was more jazzed to see the Kryptonian's lair than anything.

Before the six could get any more reacquainted Avery, the tech wizard, notice Cameron and Maya standing at the foot of the ramp. "Holy crap!" She jumped down the ramp to give Maya a flying hug.

Maya easily caught the much smaller teen and awkwardly returned the affectionate gesture. After a quick moment Avery quickly pulled away, slightly embarrassed. "Sorry, hugging's not usually my thing, but it has been way to long since we've seen either of you guys."

"You're telling me." Sam echoed Avery's sentiment and looked at Maya and Cameron standing so close together. "So, I see you two haven't killed each other yet."

Colton joined in the group with a hearty laugh. "Yeah, remember how they used to get all in each other's faces? I knew they'd hook up." He punched Cameron on the arm playfully.

Cameron greeted all his friends before clearing his throat. "So, we've got a little announcement to make."

Sam interrupted their former leader in a joking manner. "What you'd get her pregnant?" Sam's joke was met with silence from Cameron and Maya, which told Sam all she needed to know. "Oh, so are congratulations in order?"

The rest of the team quickly put the pieces together and circled around Maya asking her all sorts of questions. Sam and Penny were wondering how far she was along, but Avery was more interested in how Cameron was in bed. Colton and Tom stood by Cameron, who accepted their congratulations, but he panicked inwardly at Colton's question about marriage.

* * *

Hawkeye watched the reunion take place as he stood in the doorway to the hangar with Black Canary.

"So, think you're up to training these kids?"

Dinah looked at the kids. "Yeah, I can't believe you and your team got so many of them back together." Dinah's face saddened as she thought about those that Hawkeye couldn't find. "There are just so many more that got captured or went missing."

Thomas nodded solemnly. "I know, but we _will _get them back. You have my word on that. Well, I leave you to get everyone settled. Hopefully Oracle's got some useful intel."

Hawkeye left Canary in the hangar and headed to the makeshift ops center. He'd hoped Barbara would have some leads, but what he heard upon entering the command center was not encouraging.

"Son of a bitch!" Barbara was less than pleased about something. Hawkeye sprinted toward her to see what happened. What he found was the smoking ruins of the laptop he'd taken from Waller a few days ago.

"Babs, what happened?"

Barbara hung her head in shame. "I thought I was making good progress on the hack. But when I got through the last firewall, the computer locked up and the components starting overheating. There was nothing could do."

"Not your fault BG. Checkmate is good, so good they nearly brought down every single hero on the planet."

"But what are we going to do now?"

"That's a good question." Hawkeye sat next to Barbara, neither noticing Dick Grayson enter the room behind them.

"What we should do is just give up."

Hawkeye and Oracle turned quickly; clearly shocked to see their comrade on his feet. But Thomas was less than enthused about the acrobat's outlook on the situation. "You can give up if you want 'Wing, but I'd rather die than quit!"

Dick grew irate at the use of his vigilant moniker. "I'm not Nightwing anymore. Besides, Godfrey had got the public so turned against us that you probably will get killed on this little quest of yours to vindicate us. I set that bomb, and it fucking blew up Mumbai! There is nothing to vindicate, I killed 12 million people!"

Thomas caught on something Dick said and spoke over his shoulder to Barbara. "Get on tracking on Godfrey. We find him and get him to talk." He focused his attention back on Dick. "And as for you, someone fucked with that bomb and widened the blast range. You never would have given Sigma Squad that bomb if you weren't 100% sure of the outcome. We've been getting played this whole time, and I am damn tired of it! And if you can't get that through your head, then you better go back to your fucking room and go stew in your own misplaced guilt. We're done trying to get through to you, Dick. When you want to get back on the horse, we'll still be here, but until then I don't want you in here again. Is that clear?"

Dick didn't answer, prompting Thomas to yell out one final time. "Is that clear?!"

Dick nodded this time and slowly walked out of the room. Barbara was stunned that Thomas would blow up like that on his friend. "You didn't have to yell at him."

"Someone did. We need him back on his game, but he just isn't there. And I don't have the time to baby him anymore."

At that moment, the computer started beeping. Oracle wheeled over to the monitor. "I've got him!"

"Who?"

"Godfrey. He's in D.C.!"

Hawkeye smiled as he saw Godfrey preparing for a live report next to the ruins of the Hall of Justice, but before he could radio the team, Jor-El's voice was heard from the Kryptonian computer. "The Guardians of the Universe have established communication. They await you in the viewing room."

Hawkeye quickly made his way to the room, finding Canary already there. The holographic projectors were showing a single Gaurdian, one the heroes of Earth were quite familiar with.

"Ganthet!" The little blue alien turned his attention to Hawkeye and gave the equivalent of a Guardian smile. "Hawkeye it is god you are here. As I was informing Canary, we have urgent intelligence to share."

"Go on."

"Your assertion that Darkseid will attack Earth appears to be correct. He is currently marshaling his armies in preparation for the assault, but he is waiting to amass his full strength."

At Ganthet's pause Dinah asked a question. "How much time will we have?"

"Roughly two months. Hal Jordan and a contingent of Lanterns are en route to you, but will remain out of contact to conserve power. Their arrival may be too late however. We predict they will reach Earth just after Darkseid attacks the planet."

The grim news did little to phase Thomas. "We'll just have to stall until Hal gets here then."

"How? From Hal Jordan's briefing Earth is without its greatest heroes."

"Trust me, we're working on that. Thank for the intel." Thomas nodded to Ganthet would returned the gesture and severed the communication.

Canary was just as confused about Thomas's assertion about stalling as Ganthet. "Can I assume you have a plan?"

"Of course I do." He touched his radio. "Oracle, still got a lock on Godfrey?"

"_Affirmative."_

Hawkeye tuned his frequency back to the time wide broadcast. "Outlaws, load up and meet in the hangar in three minutes. We're going hunting." He flashed a smile to Canary before swiftly ducking out of the room.

* * *

**May 4 – 7:17 p.m.  
****Washington D.C  
****The ruins of the Hall of Justice**

The Outlaws were perched atop of a rooftop overlooking where the Hall of Justice once stood. The sky was just beginning to darken as G. Gordon Godfrey began his live broadcast.

"_Good evening, this is G. Gordon Godfrey reporting. Today we celebrate one of the heroes of the world. Oh no, not one of those cowardly mask wearing fools. Today we honor the man's who vision brought those corrupt, power hungry individuals to justice: President Luthor!"_

At Godfrey's words, a statue was unveiled behind him. The bronze statue stood directly in front of the ruins of the Hall of Justice.

"_This statue, elegantly placed in front of the faux-headquarters of the world's false idols, will stand for all time as a testament of what true __human__ ingenuity can accomplish. We will be covering this live ceremony throughout the evening in the studio. This is G. Gordon Godfrey, signing off."_

The camera mans assigned to Godfrey shut off the camera and loaded the equipment as Godfrey stood watching the ceremony. The Outlaws waited for Thomas's signal to grab their target, but Roy was growing impatient.

"Can't I just wing him?" Arsenal was currently sighted in on the target with his sniper rifle.

"Negative. I just need you to call out his movements."

"Why? I mean, why don't we take him now?"

"We can't risk exposure and you know it! Godfrey is a key to public opinion right now. We need to track him and get some dirt on him."

"Fine, but if he makes a move, I get to shoot him."

"You'll get no argument from me. But shouldn't Cameron be handling that? Pretty sure he's a better marksman."

"Well, I'm sure he would, but he's up back in the ship with his girlfriend, stupid pansy."

"_I heard that asshole." _Cameron's voice came over the comms. _"And next time, shut off the comm signal if you want to have a private conversation. Besides, I could shoot circles around you and you know it."_

Roy didn't argue Cameron's point. Cameron's brain was unique in that it takes the input data from the environment and he can use that to hit any target he wanted to. In fact, he'd once shot a bullet from Deadshot right out the air.

"Can it you two." Jason was getting annoyed with his teammates arguing. Hood brought his binoculars up to his eyes again. "He's on the move. Heading down an alley to the south."

Hawkeye nodded. "I'm on it. Meet me there. You got my signal Colt?"

"_Loud and clear, boss."_

Thomas took off across the rooftops. While he wasn't a speedster, having stronger muscles meant being able to move much faster than a normal human, even one trained to peak condition. In no time at all, Hawkeye was positioned up above Godfrey, just in time to hear the weasel reporter speak into a device on his wrist.

"My lord, the humans have all but completely turned against their heroes."

"_You have done well, Godfrey. The destruction of Mumbai was a masterstroke on your part and now you have crushed their spirit completely"_

"Thank you, Lord Darkseid. The parademon you provided me with was more than capable of resetting the League's bomb aboard the Reach vessel. How soon will your force be ready to strike?"

"_I will inform you when the time is appropriate. For now, continue your observations of the humans."_

"As you command, Lord Darkseid." Godfrey closed the device and brought out some sort of box. Before Hawkeye could make it down to the ground, Godfrey had opened a boomtube and walked through, leaving the alley deserted.

Hawkeye touched his radio. "Tell me you got all that."

"_Hell yeah I did! So what, we going to have Oracle broadcast it?_

"Not yet, we've got a stop to make first."

* * *

**8:47 p.m.  
****Andrews Air Force Base**

General Sam Lane was not in a good mood. Not only had been all but told to resign by President Luthor, but now Amanda Waller was on the base and in his office. For the last 10 minutes the head of Checkmate had been droning on about requisitions that Checkmate would need to capture the remaining heroes. The only thing keeping him from kicking Waller out on her ass was that he knew she was actually playing for the other team. After Hawkeye had made contact 3 days ago Waller had reached out to him for support. The two paired up to gather any possible intelligence, but they were frustrated by the dead ends they continually found.

"What the hell am I supposed to do Waller? You know I'm on the way out with Luthor, so there isn't anything I can do anymore." The useless talking was starting to grate on his nerves even more than usual.

"We need to keep digging. We both know that the heroes weren't responsible for Mumbai."

"But there's no way to prove it.

A new voice joined the conversation from the shadows. "That might not be entirely accurate General."

Lane and Waller were startled when Hawkeye walked from the shadows. Waller recovered first. "You have got to stop doing that! You're almost as bad as Batman."

Hawkeye smiled devilishly. "Thanks for the compliment."

Lane closed the distance between him and an the hero. "Enough with the pleasantries. Waller says you're one of the good guys, but I'm not convinced. What do you want."

"Simple, to deliver you some intel in the hopes of making sure that the Earth isn't destroyed."

After Hawkeye's dire proclamation, Lane and Waller listened intently as Thomas filled them in on everything his team had learned in the previous days, from Darkseid to Godfrey and everything in between. When he finished, Lane had one question.

"So what's your plan?"

"My plan is to find the prisons and free everyone in them. You will do what you can to get the military and intelligence community ready. You have two months to be combat ready and I will expect you to hold up your end."

"What about Luthor? I'm supposed to retire in two months times."

"Leave Luthor to me. Just make sure you're ready when the time comes."

Lane nodded. "Good luck to you then."

Before slipping back into the night Thomas turned around. "And to both of you as well."


	8. Gone To Ground

**So this chapter features some of the DC universe mercenaries, they aren't really major players outside of Deathstroke, but they are all real characters. Again, thanks to Ansa88 for the beta and to everyone who has reviewed, favorited, or added this to their alerts. Enjoy!**

* * *

**May 12****th**** – 10:45 a.m.  
****Fortress of Solitude  
****52 days until invasion**

Dick Grayson grunted in pain as he started the final lap of his mile run. While the Outlaws had been busy tracking Godfrey, Jor-El had put the Kryptonian robots to work re-fitting the Fortress for human use, including a workout area. They did their work quickly and quietly, even Alfred was astounded by their proficiency. Once Dick finished the lap, his personal trainer, Wally, continued to drill the former Boy Wonder for information about the Fortress.

"Why hasn't anyone found this place before? Should satellites be able to pick it up?"

Dick wiped the sweat from his forehead. "The tech in this facility is used in part to shield it from any eyes in the sky. Plus, anyone who gets near it on foot would encounter violent storms that would force them to turn back."

"How do you know all this stuff about the Fortress?"

"Well, as you know, Supes was my idol growing up. When I first came here I asked all these questions and the big guy answered each and every one. Also, I hacked Batman's file on the Fortress when I was 12."

Wally chuckled. "Why am I not surprised? Seriously though, it's good to see you up and about. Itching to get back on the saddle?"

Dick took a gulp of water from his sports bottle. "Oh, I'm getting there. I'm just glad we're getting real time info on Darkseid's movements from the Guardians, but from what I understand things have taken a slight turn for the worse over the last week."

"You're telling me. Haven't seen Thomas this mad since, well, ever."

* * *

"Why the hell can't we find them?! We've turned over every damn rock, kicked down every door and what do we have?" Thomas was pissed, so pissed that he threw the melted and charred Checkmate laptop against the far wall.

"Thomas you need to calm down. Getting into a tirade isn't going to solve anything." Canary was trying to her best to bring her former student under control.

"I know Dinah! I know, but this is just so damn frustrating. We finally get some evidence that might help us exonerate the others, but now we can't find the Light!"

"We'll find them. I know it."

"How?"

"Thomas, I don't know. But, we'll find a way." Canary's statement went without response until Barbara Gordon wheeled into the room.

"Couldn't have said it better myself, Dinah, and I think I found just the right people to help. You guys might not be too keen on meeting them."

While Thomas didn't respond Canary voiced her curiosity. "What do you mean by that?"

"Well, we know that all the members of the Light have gone to ground. Even Luthor's been using a body double, which we know thanks to Waller. If that's the case, then someone knows where they are. So I called in some experts on the underground. Jade put out the call and set up mercenary meeting in Blüdhaven tonight."

Thomas slammed a first against the wall. "You mean we have to wait until tonight? The trail is getting colder by the minute."

"I know that; don't get your panties in a bunch. Jade set the meeting, not me. Besides, I'll at least have some rehab time before the op starts. Alfred says I'm ahead of schedule, should be on crutches in two weeks and on a cane in four."

The good news about his friend's health softened Thomas's anger. "Good to hear. Wish you would have run this by me first."

Barbara scoffed playfully. "Please, everyone knows I'm the brains of this outfit."

Thomas laughed along with his friend. "So on a slightly more serious note, is Jade doing the meeting solo?"

"Hell no. I mean, I know Red trusts her and all, but I don't. Kind of figured you'd want to be there as well."

Thoams nodded. "Wouldn't miss it for the world. So what's the plan? Just fishing for intel?"

"Mostly. We're going to lay the cards on the table for anyone interested. There are a few mercs out there who would probably help out when the fighting starts. Nothing like the destruction of the planet as an incentive. Now, if you'll excuse me I am going to go see if I see if Wally wasn't pulling my leg about Dick getting back in shape."

Canary smiled knowingly. "Yeah, I'm sure that's all you're interested in seeing."

Thomas joined in the ribbing. "Yeah, it couldn't possibly be about you wanting to watch him when he isn't wearing a shirt or anything."

Barbara shook her head as she wheeled out of the room. "Assholes."

Hawkeye called after her. "Oh, and we're going to need to talk about operational command later!"

Oracle responded instantly. "Like hell we do!"

* * *

**Blüdhaven – 8:37 p.m.**

"Anyone know why we're here?" Floyd Lawton was not the type of man to sit around waiting. "The communique said 8:30, but the bitch ain't shown yet."

"Right." Captain Boomerang's aussie accent echoed Lawton's sentiment. "If Cheshire wanted us here, she should have been here by now."

There was a general consensus of murmurs throughout the assembled gaggle of world-renowned mercenaries. Deadshot made his way to the nearest door, only to feel a shuriken pass over his head and lodge in the door. The attention returned back to the center of the warehouse. There, standing in her infamous green attire and mask, stood Cheshire.

"Now boys, it's rude to leave before hearing out your host."

"Young lady." An elderly gentleman took off his hat to address Cheshire. "I would counter to say it is rude to keep your guests waiting."

"Touché, Ducard. I do apologize for my lateness, I was held up by an associate earlier this evening." A loud scoff was heard from a cloaked man in the corner. Cheshire glared at the man, but continued her speech. "There are two reasons I have called you all here tonight. I need information on the whereabouts of several major players. Chiefly among them are Vandal Savage and Lex Luthor."

Silence followed, only to be broken by a teenage girl. "While I'd love to find dear old dad and slice his throat, why in the hell should any of us tell you?"

Deathstroke nodded. "Scandal has a point. Your loyalties have been anything but solid these past few years."

Cheshire stood motionless, impossible to read behind the cat-like mask. "Let's just say things will be getting dicey for all of us if we don't start getting along real quick."

Deadshot let out of a laugh. "That's hilarious coming from you. Besides, why didn't any of your goody-two-shoes friends come to this little gathering? Apparently we don't rate a visit from the mighty heroes."

The cloaked man in the corner threw off his garment, revealing his uniform beneath it. Needless to say, the presence of Hawkeye changed the dynamic of the room in a hurry. Thomas made his way to Cheshire before addressing the mass of mercs. "What Cheshire says is true. We need to find The Light. They have information we need to stop an invasion of Earth."

"Oh, like that invasion that got all you heroes locked up last year?"

"This will be much worse Deadshot, I promise you that. Darkseid is coming back and he's bringing his whole damn army with him. I'm talking about power like we've never seen before. It took nine of the most powerful people on the planet to beat Darkseid, and he was alone last time. If we don't get the Light to let out the heroes, there won't be anything standing between him and leaving this planet in ruins. Some of us will fight, but without the League, we will all die. And while I can't believe the words are coming out of my mouth, I'm asking for your help in defending the human race."

The reaction in the room was nearly unanimous upon Hawkeye's revelation. All but two of the mercenaries openly laughed at what they assumed was a fake attempt to find information about The Light and left the warehouse. Only Deathstroke and Henri Ducard stayed to hear what Hawkeye and Cheshire had to say.

"Gotta say Slade, hadn't pegged you for one of the few to stick around."

"I am not here because of you Jade."

"Ouch Slade, you're hurting my pride. But if it wasn't for my startling good looks then why stay?"

"Because of what he has to say." Slade pointed a finger at Hawkeye.

Thomas was a little stunned. "Me?"

"Yes, in our fights over the years you have proven to be a worthy opponent and you have earned my respect, which is no easy accomplishment. Though I cannot speak for Mr. Ducard as to why he has elected to remain."

Ducard fiddled with his suspenders. "I just don't want to see the world blown to kingdom come. Besides, if you're going to be doing some tracking, then I'm the man for the job. Hell, I even trained Batman back in the day on how to track someone."

Deathstroke took back control of the conversation. "There is no need for that, though undoubtedly yours skills are quite impressive. If you wish to meet with Savage I can arrange it."

Now Thomas was even more stunned. "While I get that I have somehow earned your respect, why would you turn on your employers?"

"I do not see it was turning on them, rather finding a way to ensure the Earth's survival. I do not pick sides, such as you have done. If Savage agrees to meet with you we will meet at a neutral location at a time of my choosing. How do you wish me to contact you?"

Thomas tossed Deathstroke an old cell phone. "It's an old burner we've had retrofitted so it can't call. I've programmed the other line in so text us the location and time with at least a four hour heads up."

Deathstroke nodded and left the warehouse. Ducard replaced his hat and followed, but turned to speak one final time. "I'll see what I can do about bringing some of those knuckleheads around. We'll need all the guns we've got if what you say is coming is actually coming."

After Ducard left Thomas let out a sigh. "Well, that could have gone worse." He turned to look at Cheshire, but found the warehouse completely empty. "God, I hate assassins."

* * *

** May 13th – 2:25 p.m.**  
**Paris, France**  
**51 days until invasion**

"So remind me again why were only meeting with Savage and not tearing him limb from limb?" Arsenal was sure his leader was on some kind of drug as they walked down on Paris's alleyways.

"Because, Arsenal, we're here to talk. Nothing else." Hawkeye double checked the coordinates he'd received from Deathstroke one last time.

"But this guy seriously fucked you up. And last time you saw him you threw him out a 17th floor window!"

"Shut up, we're here." Thomas knocked on steel door, surprised when it opened on its own. A familiar voice was heard coming from within.

"So nice of you to join us. Do come in, but you'll have to do so alone, Hawkeye."

Thomas followed the suggestion and stepped in through the opening, leaving a confused Roy standing outside the door as it slammed in his face. Vandal Savage greeted Hawkeye with a cold stare.

"My enforcer tells me you wish to meet regarding a pending invasion."

Thomas nodded. "I do. I believe you know what is coming." Savage nodded. "Then you know the only thing that can stand up to him is Superman."

"Indeed."

"And I also assume that you've been trying to break him and bend him to your will. But I know you haven't been successful because if you had, then big blue would be flying the sky doing the rounds for Luthor. How am I doing so far?"

"You have a cunning mind, Hawkeye."

"You should know, seeing as you gave it to me." There was a bitter tone to Thomas's words. "But I didn't come here to hash that particular argument out."

"Then what exactly do you wish to discuss?"

"The locations of the superhero prisons you're got across the globe."

"I see you know there is more than one. You have certainly done your homework."

"Don't patronize me Savage; I'm not in the mood for your games. Besides, you and I have bigger fish to fry right now. You're whole schtick is about advancing humanity, even if you are a bit of a douche about it. If you don't give up that intel, then everything you want will burn."

"Yes, it seems we have a common enemy. I am willing to give you the coordinates, but I cannot force the Checkmate guards to stand down. My fellow Light members might object to this course of action, but time is of the essence. And as you say, if the Earth is to survive then it will need its greatest champions." Savage flipped a flash drive to Hawkeye. "There is your precious intelligence, now leave."

Before Thomas could move to grab Savage, the villain was teleported from the room in a beam of light. Hawkeye exited the room and stepped back into the alley. He found all four members of his team outside the door and in attack positions. "Cool your jets, guys." He flashed a smile. "I got what we need. Now whatdaya say we go stage a prison break?"


	9. Briefing

**Hey there loyal readers! Sorry that this chapter is so obscenely short. It is my own fault for not including in the last chapter at the end. I would go back and re-post it, but then you'd all probablyh ave missed it going into the next chapter. The prison break scene, with all three teams listed below will be posted first thing tomorrow.**

**Enjoy and please review!**

* * *

**May 13****th**** – 6:00 p.m.  
****Fortress of Solitude  
****51 days until the invasion**

"Alright people, here's the situation. We've uncovered the possible locations of the captured heroes." Hawkeyes' words were met with several outbursts of joy, but Thomas motioned for the crowd to settle down. "We're not 100% sure if these locations are correct, but this is too good to pass up. As such, we will be splitting up into groups of three and hitting the targets simultaneously."

Black Canary stepped up to read out the team assignments. "Blue Beetle, Beast Boy, Wonder Girl, Nitro, and Polaris are on site three, which we believe to be the meta-human facility. They will be led by Kid Flash and myself." The aforementioned heroes all gathered up in a group while Canary read off the names of the second team. "Artemis, Red Arrow, Cheshire, Shadow, Tric, and Shade will hit site two, the facility that is supposed to house the extraterrestrial heroes."

The remaining heroes grouped as Thomas continued the briefing. "My team and I will be hitting the human facility. The numbers are a little skewed, but we've been working as a team for a little over a year now. Throwing in someone else would just muck things up." Hawkeye paused to peer over the crowd. "I don't need to tell any of you how important this is and that we need to do this by the book. We recon the site, then strike, but you will not have backup in the field. Your team leaders have the building schematics, you have one hour to familiarize yourselves with the plan."

Having finished his briefing Thomas headed back into the command center where his team and Oracle were waiting for him.

Jason was leaning against Barbara's desk as he fiddled with his helmet. "So, think they're up for it?"

"They have to be, Hood. It's the only play we have. Savage said we'd have a limited window to do the job, and I don't intend to miss the window."

"I get that, but why haven't we discredited that Godfrey piece of shit yet?"

Hawkeye thought out his answer for a moment. "Because I want to have all my ducks in a row. Savage gave us what we need to take that asshole down, but it won't do the job by itself. We'll have to get back out in the world to start getting people back on our side."

Arsenal slammed an arrow in his quiver to get the team's attention. "Not that this little pow-wow hasn't been informative, but don't we have a job to get to?"


	10. Breakout

**This chapter is the longest I've ever written, hope it isn't too much at once. **

**Enjoy and please review!**

* * *

**May 13 - 8:52 p.m.  
****Somewhere in the Colorado Rockies**

"This is Artemis, we've breached the prison."

"_Roger that Artemis, stay in radio contact. Oracle out."_

Artemis clicked off the radio as the team stalked down the halls of the prison. Red Arrow and her sister, were on the way to handling the security center while she and half of the Sigma Squad rookies were on prisoner detail. Infiltration had been quite easy thanks to Oracle's computer prowess. Using Artemis and Red Arrow's knockout arrows Oracle overrode the computer to make it pump the through the fire suppression system, thus leaving the guards unconscious. Artemis couldn't help but think that Oracle's skills on the keyboard dwarfed even those of Nightwing. She was even happier that the guards had been easily subdued. Truth be told, most of the team was extremely rusty and they were all glad that there wasn't much fighting that needed to be done.

"_Hey sis, me and Red got the prison manifest. Meet in Block 3."_

Artemis acknowledged and motioned for the team to follow to Block 3, which was close to their current location, meaning they had a few minutes of down time while they monitored for any guards they may have missed on the way in.

Cheshire's radio contact with Artemis had the members of Sigma Squad all thinking the same thing, but Sam was the first to ask. "Wait, so Cheshire is your sister?"

Artemis notched an arrow, ever vigilante as always. "Yeah, we kind of have a weird relationship, but at least this time she knew I wasn't actually dead."

"What do you mean by that?"

"The first time I faked my death, she thought I died and went after the guy that 'killed' me. Almost succeeded too."

"Ah, reminiscing without me sis?" Cheshire and Red rounded the corner. "Now, how about we break out some aliens?"

At those words Red Arrow brought up a tech pad that he swiped from the security center and used it to open the nearest door. With an audible click, the electronic lock snapped and the door swung open, revealing a dimly lit room with a single solitary man inside. Upon seeing the visitors the man stood up from his mattress and stepped out into the light, his dark skin immediately standing out.

Icon's face broke into a smile. "It is good to see you again my friends. Is Rocket with you?"

Red Arrow shook his head. "We think they grabbed her right after they took you down. We've got a team at the human prison, hopefully they found her."

Icon's features took on a grim façade. He took in the news without responding for a moment, but finally asked a question. "Is it possible to remove the collar? I believe there is a tracker imbedded in it."

Roy nodded, touching a few buttons on the pad again. In short order, the collar's lights blinked off. Icon's superhuman strength kicked in after a brief second, and he crushed the black collar in his fingers. Icon took in the sensation of his powers returning, albeit somewhat more slowly than he had expected.

Roy broke the silence. "We need to split. Icon, Cheshire, and I will take Superman. The rest of you go grab Superboy." Roy touched a few more buttons on the pad. "His door's unlocked."

Artemis led the squad down the hall following Roy, but turned left where they went right at the next intersection. After one more turn, the team stood in front of the open door to Superboy's cell. Artemis slowly stepped inside. "Kon? Superboy?"

The response was angry and immediate. "Don't call me that!" Kon-El stepped forward from the shadowy corner. His normally powerful body had wasted away in captivity, the collar sapping his strength and invulnerability.

Artemis gasped when she saw the scars. "What did they do to you?"

Kon hung his head, refusing to answer the question. Artemis didn't like the defeatist attitude. "Superboy, I need you to get off your ass. We're busting out of here."

"I said don't call me that."

Artemis roller her eyes. "God, I don't have time for this crap." The team behind Artemis was shocked as the archer brought her boy to bear on Superboy's neck, using a lethal tipped arrow no less. She let loose an arrow, but instead of striking flesh it found contact with the inhibitor collar and shattered it to pieces. Artemis saw the look of shock on Kon's face and smiled confidently. "Now can we go?"

Superboy stretched, feeling better than he had since his imprisonment, but by no means was he even close to 100 percent. "Yeah, let's move."

Superboy was the last to leave the room, moving to slam the door behind him. In his weakened state he actually missed the door, but it still closed seemingly of its own volition. Artemis noticed this, but Superboy seemed ignorant of the event. Deciding they were in a hurry, the archer elected not to bring it up. The team raced back the way they came, running smack into Red Arrow, who was closely followed by Cheshire and Icon. The recently freed alien was holding the unconscious body of Superman in his arms. The site of his brother's body brought rage back into Superboy and he jumped toward the Kryptonian. The assembled group thought Kon's jump look eerily similar to flight, but brushed it off as simply not seeing their friend move in over a year.

"What did they do to him?"

Icon's usually calm voice had a clear bitterness. "He was strapped to an operating table laced with Kryptonite, which kept him in a weakened state. The scientists who were in the room were dealt with swiftly."

Cheshire interrupted. "Alright, now that we got everyone, can we blow this popsicle stand?"

* * *

**8:55  
****Northern California**

"Oracle, this is KF. I'm secured the inside of the prison. Guards are down."

"_Acknowledged Kid Flash. Enter at your discretion. Funny how the team with the speedster is the last to make it into their prison."_

Wally laughed sarcastically. "You're hilarious. KF out."

After cutting the communication Wally nodded to Black Canary and the rest of the squad. Beat Boy, Blue Beetle, Wonder Girl, Nitro, and Polaris all followed the two veterans inside the prison. The prison was a much softer target than it appeared, but that mostly due to Wally. The events of the last year hard hardened Wally's personality somewhat. Earlier in his career, he would have only used his speed to disarm the guards. Now he knocked out each and every guard in the prison.

But the biggest change in Kid Flash was the speed itself. When Barry had been captured, Wally had seen the event play out on live TV. He ran out of the apartment that he and Artemis had been hiding in, risking their exposure. He pushed himself harder than he ever had in his life, but when he reached his max speed he felt something snap, like a rubber band. Suddenly he was approaching speed's Flash rarely ever achieved. But even with the new speed, Wally arrived too late to stop Flash's capture. He spent days searching the globe for his uncle, but the search proved fruitless. Artemis eventually tracked Wally down and the two were forced to relocate to Blüdhaven with Hawkeye's help.

Once everyone was in the prison, Blue Beetle scanned for their captured teammates, finding Zatanna's bio-sign first. As the scarab put it, "The magic girl's life sign is quite distinct."

In no time at all the squad had arrived at Zatanna's cell. Wonder Girl ripped off the door, but Polaris caught it with her magnetic abilities before it slammed into the wall. Zatanna quickly followed, the team was shocked to find her mostly the same as they remembered her. She was thinner, but for the most part seemed mostly untouched.

"About time you lot showed up."

Canary smiled the girl's defiant attitude. "Are you alright?"

Zatanna rubbed the collar. "Mostly. The walls in here are warded, my guess by Wotan. They sap mystical energy. The collar's just to keep me line, but I didn't give them many reasons to use it." Zatanna walked over the Wonder Girl. "Care to do the honors?"

Cassie nodded as she gripped the collar on both sides and ripped the collar in two. Zatanna rubbed her neck, which was red and chaffed where the collar had been. "God, that thing was annoying. One fashion accessory I definitely won't miss."

Wally sped up and hugged his teammate. "Hey Z. Good to see you."

"You too Walls." Zatanna and Wally broke apart. "So, what now?"

Jaime Reyes spoke up. "Scarab says he's hacked into the mainframe. Got the location of two others, Static and Flash."

At the mention of his uncle Wally immediately jumped into action. "B, tell the others the location of Static, you and I are going to get Flash."

No one argued with the speedster as he and Beetle flew off. It took all of 30 seconds to reach Flash's cell. To Wally it felt like an eternity as he followed at Beetle's seemingly snail-like pace. Deciding he couldn't wait anymore for Beetle to get the door open, Wally tried something he hadn't in a long time. He stood next to the door and began vibrating as fast as he could, eventually pushing himself through the door. Once on the other side he gasped for air, still unbelieving that he'd actually done it. He wasn't the only one who was surprised to see his cool entrance.

"Wally?" Barry's voice was barely a whisper, almost too weak to be heard.

"Yeah Barry, it's me. I'm here to bust you out." Wally moved over to his uncle's bed, unprepared for the sight that met his eyes. Barry was bone-thin, looking like someone out of a Holocaust photo. He had a scraggly blonde beard on his face and his face looked like a shriveled up version of his usually immaculate self. There were clear breaks in his legs, meaning walking him out of the prison was not going to happen. Despite his injuries Barry managed a small smile.

"You vibrated through the wall."

Wally rubbed the back of his neck. "To be honest, that's the first time it actually worked."

Before the two could converse any more, Beetle came over the comm. _"You alright in there, _ese_?"_

"I'm good Blue. Get the door open, we're on our way out." Wally bent down to pick up his mentor's body. Barry groaned in pain as Wally positioned him bridal style. Once Beetle had the door open, Wally took off toward the ship, radioing Canary and the team to do the same.

* * *

**8:47 p.m.  
****6 miles outside of Thompson, Illinois**

"_This is Hood, surveillance sweep two complete. Looks like this is the place."_

"Affirmative, Hood." Thomas sat in the trees overlooking the prison as he ran through the plan one final time in his head. "Arsenal, Colt, be ready to neutralize the guards on my signal. Maya, keep the ship in position for extraction."

Thomas fiddled with the earpiece to tap into the other team's radio frequencies. "This is Hawkeye. Intel checks out on site one. Team leaders report status."

"_Site two is definitely the alien prison, we're good to go." _Artemis quickly cut off the comm.

Canary chimed in. _"Same here, recon looks good."_

"Good. Oracle, you tapped the security feeds?"

"_As if there was every any doubt. You guys will be ghosts from here on in, feeds have been patched and looped."_

"Alright, you heard the lady. All teams are clear to engage. Let's get it done people."

At Hawkeye' signal Colt and Arsenal let loose a round of tranq darts which incapacitated the patrols as they came in to view of the two. Two moved positions to take care of the other guards around the perimeter. After a few minutes Cameron's voice came over the radio.

"_Perimeter secured. Arsenal is placing charges on the sewer grate as planned."_

"Roger that. Colt, Hood and I are on the way." Thomas and Jason moved quickly to the north side of the prison. Its sheer size meant it took them a few minutes, but they both met the grate at the same time. Once Arsenal blew the grate they all smelled the stench of human waste. "Ladies first."

Jason covered his nose. "Fuck you, Hawkeye. I ain't going in first."

Hawkeye looked to Arsenal and Cameron who's faces told their leader they were thinking along the same lines as Red Hood. "Find, I'll go. Bunch of pansies is what you guys are."

Hawkeye made his way into the sewer pipe, which led horizontally back under the facility. The quartet traversed the pipe for several minutes until the computer on Thomas's wrist blinked red.

"Looks like were in position. Arsenal, you know what to do."

Arsenal nodded as he powered up the laser in his prosthetic arm. When it reached full power he fired it up and cut a circle above the four heroes. In less than two seconds, a metal disc fell down into the pipe, revealing a high and very narrow access shaft that was a part of the pipe system for maintenance.

Hawkeye looked around the check out the surroundings after climbing through the hole in the top of the pipe. "At least the intel is holding so far." Hawkeye turned back to the other three. "We split up from here, Colt and Arsenal you're heading to the prison's main office. When you get the inmate list, let me know."

Arsenal and Colt headed down the catwalk away from Hawkeye and Hood. Thomas pulled up the schematics on his wrist computer and as he and Hood made their way a few feet in the opposite direction from the other duo. Hawkeye held up a fist after 20 feet of walking.

"Oracle, I am in position for insertion. Is the coast clear?"

"_Hang on; running three ops is hard as hell."_ There was a brief pause before Oracle resumed communications. _"OK, you're clear. Try to keep it quiet though."_

"Roger, roger."

Jason chuckled. "_Airplane!_ jokes? Surely you can't be serious."

Thomas reared back to kick, but got one last one-liner off. "Yes I am, and don't call me Shirley." He kicked the wall with all the force he had, his leg burying itself in the concrete. As he withdrew his legs from the wall he knocked out several larger pieces of concrete to create a hole for himboth he and Jason.

Jason shook his head as the dust cleared. "You think you could ever open a door like a normal person?"

"What can I say? Having super strength pretty much demands I knock down a wall every now and then."

After Jason and Thomas climbed through the hole, Arsenal's voice came over the comm. _"We've secured the comm room, looks like we weren't the first one here."_

This news stooped Red Hood and Hawkeye in their tracks. Thomas touched a hand to his comm. "Can you get eyes on anyone else inside?"

"_Negative, feeds are still patched by Oracle, no real time visual available. We'll keep digging for the prisoner manifest."_

"Shit." Jason wasn't liking how things were going and tuned his radio to Oracle's line. "Oracle. We've got company here, but can't see him. Little help?"

"_Copy that, I'm on it." _Oracle paused before exclaiming. _"Got him! At least, I think I do. Whoever he is, he's good. He's taking out a squad of armed guard in B wing, quadrant 5."_

"How many is he fighting?"

"_All of them."_

Jason nodded to no one in particular "We're on it. Oracle Keep us informed of the situation."

Thomas took off on a sprint to the location Oracle indicated. Being super strong also translated in fast speed, which was handy in situations like this. In less than a minute, Thomas was kicking down the door to quadrant 5, but he was not prepared for the sight that greeted him. Just as Oracle said, there was indeed an intruder present who was taking it to several Checkmate guards with ruthless efficiency via a short sword. Though the fact that the intruder was what looked to be a 10 year old kid made the choice of weapon even more bizarre. Everyone in the room was caught off guard by Thomas's entrance, but the kid recovered first, sinking his sword into the belly of the guard closest to him. Hawkeye jumped into action and kicked the last guard into the wall, but was surprised when he felt a sharp pain in his abdomen. He looked down to find the kid had run the sword through from back to front.

Hawkeye staggered as he felt the pain of the injury. The assailant took his time to come around to face Thomas, but he was thoroughly shocked when Hawkeye backhanded him into the wall next the unconscious guard. He was even more surprised when Hawkeye reached behind and pulled the sword out of his body, gasping and shaking in pain as he did so. This action finally caused the boy to speak.

"That is impossible. No man could survive that injury."

Thomas laughed through the pain. "Well, I'm not exactly a normal man. Now before I get to kicking your ass I'd like to know who you are and what you're doing here."

"My business is none of your concern."

"You made it my concern when you stabbed me with a fucking sword." Thomas would have stepped toward the boy, but his injury was only barely starting to heal, meaning any motion was going to be very painful for the next few minutes.

The boy didn't have a response to Hawkeye's retort, but the silence didn't last long when Red Hood barged in. The helmeted hero took stock of the situation before turning to Hawkeye, whose uniform was soaked with blood. "So, mind if I ask what the hell happened in here? And who the fuck is the kid?"

"No idea." Hawkeye eyed the boy, who had returned to standing position. "Stabbed me with a sword though."

Jason suppressed a laugh. "What, a kid kick your ass?"

"If you haven't noticed, he isn't a normal kid. Look at the clothing." Hawkeye's words caused Red Hood to again look over the motionless boy. Thomas seemed to be correct in his assessment as the boy was decked out in something straight of Assassin's Creed.

Jason's eyes narrowed as he spoke to the boy. "So what's an assassin doing in a Checkmate facility?"

"Tt, wouldn't you like to know." Jason was angered by the boy's tone, and pulled out a gun to emphasize his point, but the boy seemed unaffected. "A gun? Hardly an honorable weapons. Regardless, if you wish to fight I would easily best you."

Thomas stepped in to cut off hostilities before things escalated. "Kid, I just pulled your goddamn sword out of my stomach, thanks for missing every vital organ, and could punch your head straight through the wall you're standing in front of. So I'll ask again, what are you doing here?"

The boy crossed his arms in annoyance. "As you will not leave it alone, I am here to rescue my father."

"Well, who's your father?"

"Batman." Of all the answers they could have expected, this was definitely not one of them.

Jason was the first to react. "Wait, what?"

"I will not repeat myself."

Jason was fuming at the kid who brushed him off, but Thomas again stepped to keep things calm. "Well that answers one of my questions, but there's still one left. Who are you?"

"Damian Wayne." The use the last name made the situation to truly sink in, but before anyone could ask any more questions, Cameron radioed Hood and Hawkeye.

"_So, what's going on? You find the guy yet?"_

Hawkeye shook his head to focus. "Yeah, we've got the situation handled. Got a prisoner list yet?"

"_Affirmative. Sending to your computer. We'll meet you at Batman's cell."_ Just after Cameron spoke, Thomas's wrist computer blinked, signaling the incoming file.

Thomas scrolled through the list of names and their locations before turning to the boy. "Looks like you're in luck, Damian. That is, if you care to tag long while we rescue your dad and the other captured heroes." Damian's response was a curt nod. "Good, first stop, Captain Marvel. Though I think I'll keep the sword for now." The look on Damian's face told Thomas exactly what he thought of that decision.

As the duo turned trio moved to the cell indicated on the file, though Jason couldn't stand the silence. "So, why would Cap be here? Isn't this the place for humans?"

"Yeah, the magicians are with the metahumans, but Cap's a unique case. You'll see for yourself in a minute."

True to his word, the group reached the target location in just under a minute. Thomas knocked on the cell door. "Billy, it's Thomas. If you can hear, I'm coming in." Thomas taped in a command on his wrist computer to initiate the unlocking sequence that Cameron had also sent him. In short order, the doors electronic locked popped open. The room was dark; no light was visible to the visitors except for the meager amount that trickled in from the hallway. The dark grey cement walls added to the feeling of unease as the three stepped inside.

Once they crossed the threshold they were instantly assaulted by stench that seemed all too similar to human feces. The toilet in the corner of the room, Jason noted, was full, apparently broken. Jason wished he'd installed the helmet's gas mask feature like he had wanted to do. But the squalor of the room itself was nothing compared to the bruised, battered, and broken 16 year old teen that lay in the fetal position in the corner. Jason was probably the most shocked. He thought they were going to get Captain Marvel, not a sickly looking kid. Thomas, however, knew the full story behind Billy Batson's current state thanks to intel from Amanda Waller.

Billy had been among the group that fought against the new power structure, but within a few days of the banning of the heroes he found himself in a very public battle against a whole platoon of Checkmate goons. For a while, Captain Marvel put up a valiant fight, but when Captain Atom arrived on scene to subdue Billy, the fight was over. Billy stupidly changed back into his human form, but before he could change back the guards gagged him and strapped an inhibitor collar to his neck. Since throwing him in this cell, the guards took every possible opportunity to severely beat the boy. The other human prisoners had gotten off comparably easier, but the Checkmate goons saw Billy has a human who had let power corrupt him, and they saw fit to punish him at every turn.

Thomas knelt down next to Billy, who had barely recognized the presence of the newcomers. Hawkeye's fingers lingered on the collar, which lay over horribly chaffed and scarred skin. Even under the filthy orange jumpsuit, the bruises and scars were quite evident. Billy was emaciated, clearly having been fed only a paltry amount of food. Seeing the treatment he had received made Hawkeye angry, angry enough to grab the inhibitor collar and rip it in two. His hands rushed to remove the gag on Billy's mouth, hoping the boy would saw the word that changed him from mere human to immortal champion of Earth. But when the gag was lifted, Billy lay silently staring at the wall. Hawkeye's anger quickly ebbed into sadness as he realized how broken his friend was.

"We'll carry him out." Thomas's words were low and quiet, nearly passing Damian and Jason unheard. Thomas slowly picked Billy bridal style and walked out the room towards the other cells. Jason and Damian took a last look around the room before following. As the four traveled down the hall Oracle's voice crackle over the comm, apparently having seen the body over the security feed she was monitoring.

"_Oh my God, is that…?"_

Hawkeye replied slowly. "Yeah."

No one spoke as they made their way to the remaining cells. Raquel Ervin, Rocket, was first, she was a little shaken, but otherwise ok. John Stewart, Earth's second Green Lantern, was more angry than anything, especially when he saw the broken body of Billy in Hawkeye's arms. Ray Palmer, the Atom, and Adam Strange were in the cells nearest to the lab, having been forced to research weapons tech during their incarceration. Karen Beecher, Bumblebee, was the next to last cell. When the group found her, she only had one question.

"Where's Mal?" She looked over the group again. "Or Robin?"

Hawkeye didn't have the heart to tell her what the file said, and Karen question went unanswered. Finally the troupe made its way to Batman's cell, where they met up with Cameron and Roy. Jason took point this time, heading into the room before anyone could make a move to stop him. He wasn't sure what he had expected to find, but seeing his estranged father lying on a prison bed with a catatonic stare was definitely not it. He stood motionless over Bruce while Thomas entered the room, having given Billy to John to carry.

Jason took off his helmet. "What did they do to him?"

"Waller said they'd been forcing him to train, trying to break him physically when they found they couldn't psychically, something about finding the limits of the human body. He fought them every step of the way, but even he couldn't beat them. Thankfully, he's only been like this a few days. There's a wheelchair in the medical wing a few doors down. We'll put him in that for the trip to the Fortress."

Thomas motioned for Roy to get the chair as he took Billy back from John. Thomas turned to Cameron. "Get everyone back to the ship when Roy gets back. The rest of us have something to finish up."

Cameron nodded, but John looked at Billy. "Should I take him with?" Even after captivity John's deep voice was still strong.

"No, I doubt any of you could hold him long enough to make it back. And Colt needs to keep his hands free in case any reinforcement show up. I'll get him out." John nodded and followed the group behind Cameron just as Roy returned with the wheelchair. "Get Bats on the chair, then get back to the ship."

Jason helped Roy move Batman onto the wheelchair. Once the task was done Jason watched beside Thomas as Roy followed the main group. "So, are we going to get the bodies?"

Thomas nodded as he made his way to the med bay. He quickly found what he was looking for in a mobile gurney. Hawkeye motioned for Jason to push the gurney while he lead the way to the morgue. Once there, Thomas set Billy down on the exam table and opened the metal storage doors as quickly as he could, eventually finding the two bodies he was looking for. Jason grabbed two body bags off a nearby shelf and the duo moved quickly to complete the morbid task of placing the recently deceased bodies of Mal Duncan and Tim Drake into individual bags and placing them on the gurney. According to the file, the boys had tried to fight like John had, but in the end couldn't last. Hawkeye couldn't help but be filled with guilt as he noted their death's had only occurred several days ago. He mentally punished himself for not finding the prisons faster. He just hoped that the other teams had better luck. Jason wheeled the gurney containing the two bodies down the hall with Hawkeye in front carrying Billy, but they soon paused when Oracle screamed over the comm.

"_Get out! Get out now! Atom's inside the prison!"_

Thomas and Jason balked at the news. Of all the people to reinforce the Checkmate guards, it had to be Captain Atom, the man who had assisted in capturing every renegade vigilante in the prisons.

Thomas set Billy down on the floor, but before any of them could even think of a strategy the wall in front of them blew up from a blast of yellow energy.

"I'm going to give you one chance to surrender Hawkeye, same for you Hood."

"Go to hell, Atom." Jason had drawn both his pistols, but was thrown backward by another energy blast from Atom.

Hawkeye glared at the traitor, hoping to stall him by talking. He knew that even with his abilities, Atom had the advantage. "Why are you doing this Cap? What have they got on you that made you turn traitor."

Thomas was completely caught off guard when Atom lowered his hand and his hole posture slumped. "They've got my family."

"That's your excuse?! You turned traitor on us for your family?"

Atom sighed. "I joined them because they were right!" The force behinds Atom's words caught Hawkeye off guard. "We were so arrogant we built a goddamn satellite in space without telling anyone, and then we armed the damn thing!"

"That's no excuse for that they did to him!" Thomas pointed a figure at Billy, who just now noticed Captain Atom.

"I didn't know what they did to the prisoners. By the time I found out, they had a gun to my wife's head. They didn't even tell me where the prison was until tonight."

Hawkeye just continued to glare at Captain Atom, but the two men were shocked to see Billy stand up.

"Shazam!" After a blinding flash of lightning, Captain Marvel emerged. In a fit of rage he flew toward Atom and grabbing him by the throat, squeezing for all he was worth. While Jason stirred back to consciousness on the floor Oracle came back over the comm.

"_Hawkeye, even more bad news. I don't know if you can hear me, but they just sent a nuke to the prison. You've got three minutes to get to a minimum safe distance."_

At the news Hawkeye leaped forward, socking Marvel in the jaw with all his strength. Thankfully it was enough to snap Billy out of his manic state. Thomas separated the two, looking to Atom first. "Looks like your buddies in the government decided you're expendable. There's a nuke on the way."

Marvel turned to leave "I'll stop it."

Atom put a hand on his shoulder. "No, I'll go. You get these boys out of here." Atom turned back to Hawkeye. "Let them know I'm sorry." Hawkeye nodded in acknowledgement as Atom flew off, leaving the boys to carry the bodies of Mal and Tim to the ship.

Once aboard the ship, Maya floored the engines, putting as much distance between the prison and them as possible. After a minute of flight Thomas pulled up the reverse camera angle and the team watched as a missile soared into view heading straight for the prison. They also notice the form of a man clad in silver floating above the remote prison. Suddenly a blinding explosion filled the screen, but just as quickly as it appeared it began to shrink, eventually becoming contained in the suit of Captain Atom. While the team cried out in joy at the averted disaster, Thomas turned up the magnification level. It soon became clear that there was a tear in Atom's suit, it glowed white with energy, growing by the second. The camera followed as Atom flew off into the night sky before he flew out of the camera's angle. Hawkeye switched to the dorsal camera just in time to see an explosion of yellow energy high in the Earth's atmosphere.

John Stewart, having had known Atom the longest was the first to speak. "You know, he once told me that's how he thought he'd go."

Jason looked up from the bag holding Tim's body. "I don't give a damn. I wanted to make him pay for what they did."

Hawkeye put a hand on Jason's shoulder. "They will Jason, I promise you that. Let's just hope the other teams had better luck than we did."

* * *

**11:55 p.m.  
****Fortress of Solitude**

All the team's met up at the Fortress after their respective missions. Canary and Artemis's teams arrived first, moving their freed friends to the medical facility that the Kryptonian robots had set up. Kon-El and Kal-El had been immediately placed in the UV healing chamber, though Superboy was recovering much faster than his older counterpart. Most of the team had gone to sleep for the night, but there were a few still awake when The Outlaws made it back to the Fortress. Wally was trying not to pass out next to his uncle's bed, while Artemis and Dinah joined Barbara, Alfred, and Dick in the hangar bay as the The Outlaws flew in.

The assembled greeting party helped the injured heroes out of the ship, but no one left until Hawkeye and Jason wheeled the gurney out with the body bags. Everyone present all stood in silence as Jason wheeled down the ramp, though more troubling was that Karen was crying as she leaned on Thomas's shoulder. Even Jason looked distraught as he came to a stop in front of Nightwing.

His voice was hoarse when he spoke, pointing to the smaller bag. "Tim…he didn't make it."

For the members of the Bat family, the news was like a punch to the guy, sucking the wind out of all of them. Barbara wheeled up to the bag, opening the zipper to see Tim's face. She broke down in the middle of the hangar while Dick came up to comfort her. Alfred's stoic face was filled with sadness and he stood by Jason and the wheelchair bound Bruce. Something sparked in Bruce's eyes, enough to at least temporarily bring him out his catatonic state. Thomas supposed seeing the dead body of your protégé/son would have that effect on a man like Bruce. Hawkeye quietly ushered the rest of them out of the hangar so that the Bats could be left in piece.

* * *

**May 14 – 9:18 a.m.  
****Fortress of Solitude**

The next morning Thomas made his way to the command center, certain it would be abandoned. What he didn't expect was to find Nightwing, fully decked out in his suit, working side-by-side with Oracle. The two were so consumed with their workout that they didn't notice Hawkeye enter until he cleared his throat rather loudly.

"Should you two really be up here right now?"

Barbara responded without looking away from her screen. "Don't go there Thomas. Not today."

"Fine, but would at least tell me what it is you're doing?"

"Tracking down those assholes who did killed Tim."

The finality in Oracle's statement made clear she was not to be argued with. Thomas chose to remain silent and turned to watch the news feeds that Oracle had pulled up. Something in particular caught his eye.

"Turn this up."

Dick turned up the volume on the broadcast, and the reporter's voice filled the room. _"This is G. Gordon Godfrey. Last night, just outside of Thompson, Illinois, a missile detonated above an abandoned prison facility. Witness reports claim that there several renegade heroes on the scene moments before the missile exploded and that our own Captain Atom took the brunt of the explosion, likely killing the ex-vigilante. It is abundantly clear, that the masked cowards have now turned to using violent and destructive methods to…."_

Thomas turned the volume back down. "Babs, still got that broadcast equipment?"

"Yeah, why?"

Hawkeye smiled slyly. "I think it's high time we put old Godfrey in his place."

It took Barbara and Dick all of 10 minutes to get the equipment set up in the main hall of the Fortress, and only a few more to get every available hero in costume to form up as a group in front of the camera. Barbara gave the signal and all the world, the television signal was hi-jacked the League's broadcast network. Hawkeye stepped into the foreground in front of the group. His uniform was in pristine condition, the light of the fully showing the gold bird on his chest.

"Hello, my name is Hawkeye. Don't worry; we'll get you back to your scheduled programming in a minute. Yes, I and the people behind me are all vigilantes." Hawkeye paused for second to show the crowd behind him. "It wasn't so long ago that you all used to call us 'heroes'. I know that many of you have bought into Godfrey's claim that we destroyed Mumbai and killed millions of people. And no matter what I say today, many of you will go on believing that. But I have faith that there are those among you who will look past the lies to see the truth. You see, good ol' Godfrey has a few skeletons in his closest that we feel you ought to know about. Roll the footage please."

The image on the screens changed to that of Godfrey threatening Savage and then communication with Darkseid. It then changed to the well-known footage of the bomb in Mumbai, but this time it showed the shadowy figure altering the bomb after Sigma Squad placed it. After these things played.

"This evidence probably won't be enough to fully sway your opinion, but that isn't the point. The point is that you have been lied to. Yes, the League overreached when it built that satellite, but it is no longer in orbit. And now, Godfrey seems to be working with the alien known as Darkseid. We do not know the full connection between them, but Darkseid is a tyrant and a conqueror that will not stop until the Earth is turned to ash. What you do with this message is your own business. But as for us heroes; we're getting back to the job that we weren't meant to do: saving the world."


	11. The Deep Breath

**This**** chapter features a little time jump from the prison break, hope it isn't too jarring. Enjoy!**

* * *

**One Month Later  
****June 14****th**** – 9:15 p.m.  
****Fortress of Solitude  
****19 days until Darkseid's invasion**

A lot had changed in the month since the prison break, mostly for the better. After Thomas's impromptu declaration of the heroes' innocence public support began to turn back in their favor. Godfrey had been suspended by GNN and was being investigated by a FBI/CIA task force. But the biggest thing working in favor of the heroes now was that Checkmate was doing an utterly terrible job of supporting the police forces of the various cities across America. Striking while the iron was hot, Thomas sent out the various heroes who had joined up or been freed from captivity. They set out in teams to once again begin patrolling the streets of their respective cities. Artemis and Dinah traded off Star City patrol duties with Red Arrow and Cheshire. Wally was back to running the streets of Central City while also tending to his uncle, who was healing nicely now that his speed had fully returned. With two speedsters up and about, Thomas was never more glad that Oliver and Bruce had set them up with practically unlimited funds before Checkmate had closed in around them, otherwise Thomas wasn't sure how he'd have managed to feed, cloth, and equip all the heroes stationed at The Fortress. Blue Beetle and Wonder Girl handled Coast City with Beast Boy, who was quickly becoming a public favorite. Nightwing had rounded back into shape and just completed his first patrol of Gotham only a few days ago, though was still plenty of issues to deal with, the least of which was not Damian Wayne.

The Outlaws faced a much different situation. While the other heroes were either healing or out patrolling, their particular unit was not faring so well. Jason had hardly been sober since Tim's death, spending most of his time in his room drinking or drunkenly mourning at the makeshift memorial for the fallen heroes inside the Fortress's hangar. Everyone tried to keep the 18 year old from the booze, but he somehow always found it or procured a new one in some unfathomable way. Maya's pregnancy was now 3 months or so along as was really beginning to show. She had changed her mind about going into the field. Thomas really couldn't argue with that decision, but Cameron was fully committed to working with The Outlaws. The other problem was that of Arsenal. Ever since Red Arrow had begun spending his days at the Fortress, things had been tense between the two. Arsenal was more prone to anger, enough to make Thomas bench him until he could cool off. Now that he was alone in the command center, Thomas leaned against the computer console and put his head down, wondering what in the heck he was going to do. He was alone in his thoughts until a far too peppy voice dragged him back to reality.

"Why so glum Thomas?" The independently mobile Barbara Gordon sprang into the room with a wide smile on her face, cane in hand. She'd spent 8 months in that wheelchair and had only been walking around with a cane for a few days after two weeks on crutches.

Seeing his friend's mood did little to lighten Thomas. "Well, my team is falling apart B, and I have no clue what to do."

Barbara's smile faltered, and then brightened again when she thought of a plan. "Well, I dare say you've been running yourself into the ground lately. Take a break, get out and enjoy the fresh air. You definitely deserve after everything you've done lately."

"And just where am I supposed to go?" Before Gordon could answer a new face popped into the command center.

"How about Themyscira?" Superman's voice caught the two off guard.

"Supes! You're awake!" Superman smiled and Thomas's exclamation.

"That certainly seems to be the case. How long was I out for?"

"31 days, give or take. Back to 100 percent?

Superman scoffed. "Not even close."

"Come again?"

"My powers are back, but I still have next to nothing on reserves. I spent 35 years soaking up the sun's rays, gave me quite the reserve of power. Now, I have to start from scratch. I figure I could fly around the world maybe twice before it gives out completely."

"Any way to speed things up a bit?"

"Yeah, this solar suit." Superman gestured to his black suit. It was nearly all black except for the silver symbol of the House of El on the chest. "This should help me absorb solar radiation quicker. You seem awfully interested in my power level. Something I should know about?"

Barbara jumped back in the conversation. "Not right now. You said something about visiting Themyscira. Might I ask why?"

Superman shrugged. "Thought I should check in with Wonder Woman. Dinah told me she made it back to the island in one piece, but hasn't been seen since. I would go find Bruce, but apparently he's back in Gotham scrounging up his toys. Besides, while we're flying Hawkeye can catch me up and what's been going on."

"That sounds like a good idea, plus there just might be a little surprise waiting for you." Barbara's voice had a suggestive tone to it, one that Thomas found very annoying.

"Fine, Supes. We'll hit up Themyscira. We'll be leaving in the morning. In the meantime there is something I need to fill you in on."

* * *

**Gotham City – 9:15**

While Thomas was preparing to head to Themyscira, Batman and Nightwing were busy beating the crap out of some bank robbers. Nightwing felt the familiar and satisfying crunch as he brought his fist down on a man's face.

"It's been way too long."

Beside him Batman gave a grunt of agreement. He went about tying the perpetrators up for the police before the duo took off into the night.

Stopping on a rooftop Nigthwing brought a situation he knew Batman was doing his best to ignore. "I know you just got back on your feet and all, but you really need to talk to the kid. And before you start, Alfred already ran the DNA, he's yours. Well, yours and Tali's."

Batman didn't answer, instead shooting off his grappling line to a nearby building with Nightwing playing catch up. As the two were grappling between buildings a familiar light shone above them. Seeing the bat symbol lighting up the night sky seemed to put the two at ease, as though another piece of the world was being put back in its proper place. The duo changed course and made their way to the top of the GCPD. There they found their old friend Commissioner James Gordon waiting for them.

Batman landed first, staying in the shadow as he spoke. "Evening Jim."

Hearing his old friend's voice made Jim jump in fright. "Damn! Never thought I'd hear your voice again. When they said a guy dressing up like Batman was beating criminal's faces in, I thought I'd turn on the old light. Just in case." Jim knocked on the metal bat symbol welded on to the skylight.

Nightwing jumped out of the shadows. "Can't believe they didn't tear this out."

"Believe me, they tried. But you two built up a lot of good people here at the station and we weren't about to let them take it away."

If Batman were capable of tearing up, he just might have at Jim's statement. "Thank you, old friend." Bruce was suddenly very aware of the changes Jim had gone through in the past year. He was even thinner, though that could have been due to the advancing age. But his face had taken on a more haunted look. Batman realized what he must have been going through. "Batgirl sends her regards."

Jim turned to where he assume Batman was standing. He just stared wistfully before replying. "She's alive?"

Nightwing ran over and put a hand on Jim's shoulder. "Yeah, she's just fine. When we got cut off from Gotham during the purge, we had to go into hiding."

Gordon's eyes filled with tears at the news. He wiped eyes before turning to Nightwing. "If anyone else had told me that Grayson, I would have decked them for taking my daughter away from me."

The use of his last name shocked Dick, though Bruce was unaffected as he rightfully thought Jim had figured out the game years ago. "You knew?"

"I've known ever since I caught a glimpse of her in that damn costume. She was so determined to fight the good fight, but I couldn't see it. When word came down that Batman was arrested, I realized how stupid I had been and just how wrong this whole situation had become." Gordon let out a long breath, trying to keep himself from losing it completely. He eventually recovered stood up straight. "But she's alive, you're both alive. And now you're back. And I've got a job for you."

Nightwing beamed at the offer. "We've got a string of burglarizes on the East side, pretty high end stuff. Perp's a pro, my money's on Catwoman. Feel up to taking her down?"

Nightwing took the file from Gordon's hand only to have to Gordon pull him back. "Sorry, I never even said thanks for saving her."

Nightwing gave the man a confident smile. "That's the thing, commish, you'll never have to."

After leaving the roof, it didn't take much time to locate the burglar. The duo beat the police to the most recent crime scene in the natural history museum, predictably in the wing housing the priceless diamonds. Nightwing was not impressed. "Gordon said this was professional. It's like they want to get caught."

A sultry female voice called down from above. "That's because I do, birdboy." The owner of the voice vaulted down from the rafters, landing directly in front of the dynamic duo.

Bruce hardly reacted, except for speaking. "Selina."

Catwoman responded simply by strutting right up Batman and planting a deep and passionate kiss right on his lips. Nightwing thought for sure Batman would arrest her, but he was in for a shock when Batman returned the kiss.

After he picked his jaw up off the floor Nightwing tried to figure out what was going on. "Uh, Batman?"

The only response was the sounds of two people having one hell of a make out session. "So are you are at least going to make her give the stuff back." When there was still no response Nightwing realized he was the third wheel in this situation. "Right, I'll just be on my way then."

Dick shot his grappling up to the roof, only to be scared half to death by the voice of a child. "Has father always had a romantic relationship with Catwoman?"

Nightwing spun around. "Jesus Damian, do not sneak up on me like that!" Dick calmed down before speaking again. "Were you following us?"

"Tt, it was not difficult. Stowing away on the Batwing was the most difficult part. For a vigilante you talk too much, makes you easy to track."

Dick started laughing. "So I suppose that's my only flaw right?"

"Mostly."

"Wait, you aren't going to insult me? You've spent the last few weeks constantly berating everyone you meet at the Fortress, especially Jason, but not me?"

"Grayson, I do not wish to have this conversation with you."

Dick playfully shoved the younger child. "Too late, you brought it up."

Damian crossed his arms over his makeshift Robin costume. "There is no way you will let this go?"

Dick gave the kid a devilish grin. "Not a chance, lil' D."

Damian huffed in frustration. "Fine, of all father's protégé you are by far the most skilled. Todd is too reckless and violent, and I can now add that he is an apparent alcoholic at the ripe age of 18. Drake was a pathetic excuse of a fighter."

Damian's words caused Dick to tense up and cut the boy off. "D, you ever say that again I will hit a child. Tim was my brother, Jason's too. He just isn't exactly responding well to Tim's death. I know you didn't know Tim, but you had better respect his memory."

Before Damian could try to backtrack a loud feminine yell was heard from the museum, causing Dick to rush over and cover and Damian's ears. "We're leaving."

* * *

**June 15 – 10:30 a.m.  
****Themyscira**

After Thomas filled Superman in on the situation with Darkseid the previous night the ride to Themyscira was quiet. At least until Superman started asking questions.

"So, you've doing a great job trying to pick up the pieces, but you wouldn't happen to have a plan would you?"

"It's in the works. I was kind of hoping you, Bat's and Wonder Woman could figure something out. I put out the call to Big Barda, figured we could use her expertise in the planning stage at the very least. She said she'd be at the Fortress tonight. And the Guardians are feeding us live intel on Darkseid's movements. Over half his army is still neck deep in a war of Tamaran, so we've got about 18 days to get things squared away. And for the most part, we do. The only thing to do now is to devise a plan. Which is I guess half the reason we're here." Hawkeye brought the plan down on the beach of Themyscira as Superman asked on final question.

"And what's the other half?"

Thomas didn't answer; instead he let a blonde haired girl race into the Javelin after she dropped the ramp. "Kal!"

Superman was definitely caught off guard when the girl hugged him so hard that she lifted him up off the chair. Not many people could lift a Kryptonian, even if he only at 50% strength.

"Uh, hello?"

The girl set Kal-El down, realizing he probably had no clue who she was. "Uh, hi. My name's Kara. Kara Zor-El."

The girl's full name caught Superman off guard. "Did you just say Zor-El?"

Thomas laughed at the look on Superman's face. "Ha! She's your cousin, dude!"

Hawkeye's laughter brought Kara's attention to him, which meant she ran over to give him a quick hug to say hello. Thomas tensed up in preparation for the pain, but it never came.

Kara stepped back after setting him down. "Yeah, I've got my strength under control now. Diana's been training me really hard."

"I most certainly have." All eyes snapped to the rear of the ship where Diana stood in full Wonder Woman regalia. Her eyes locked on Superman and she blushed slightly after realizing she was staring. "It's good to see you again Kal."

Superman seemed lost in something in Diana's chest region and had to be nudged back to reality by Thomas. "Oh, yeah. Hi. I guess."

Wonder Woman was even further embarrassed at Kal-El's reaction to her, so she decided it would be best to leave. "Kara, we need to get back to training."

The three watched as Wonder Woman flew away. Thomas playfully punched Superman in the arm, instantly regretting it as he grabbed his hand in pain. While he recovered Superman answered his unspoken question. "We kind of kissed right before the whole Mumbai debacle."

Thomas nodded. "And now you're confused about how to handle it. It's been a year, after all."

Kara felt her presence wasn't needed and decided to leave as well. "Well, I've got get back to it." She sped over to give Kal another hug, doing the same with Thomas, but lingered to give him a peck on the cheek. "See you later."

Thomas stood in the ship, momentarily feeling elated at Kara's gesture. The feeling was temporary because he noticed how Superman's eye was twitching when he saw what happened.

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	12. Before the Plunge

**This one's a little shorter, mostly because I needed a little bit of a bridge between this one on the finale. That's right; we're already to the finale in chapter 13, though I will break it into two, possibly three chapters. After that, there's an epilogue and then we're done. **

**This chapter features Steel City, which home to one of the Titan towers in the comics, plus some Bat Family goodness.**

**Enjoy!**

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**June 16 – 10:00 a.m.**

"Father."

"Damian."

The two biological Waynes had a glare-down in the Fortress's 'lounge' area. Neither was willing to look away. For Bruce, it was because he didn't know what to do with the boy, only that he felt violated that he even existed. _Must be kind of how Superman felt,_ he mused. Damian simply wanted to actually be in the same room as his father. After the Outlaws had liberated the human prison, Batman had slowly started to recover mentally. It had been a tough slog, especially without a trained telepath to help. But Tim Drake's death seemed to spur Batman to come out of the recesses of his mind and he slowly came back around.

Dick Grayson entered the lounge about five minutes after the showdown had started. He took the time to study the facial expressions of his surrogate family. Bruce's face to an amateur would have been wholly unreadable behind the cowl to an amateur, but Dick had gotten to know the Dark Knight extremely well over the years. Damian was another matter, but his expression was remarkably similar to Bruce's, even if it was half covered by a domino mask.

"So, I see you two are not actively trying to run away from the other. Still not talking, but I'll take progress where I can get it."

Both glarers turned their attention to Grayson, who laughed at their mirror expression. "That's exactly how I pictured you as a kid! Awesome."

"Yeah, it's hilarious Dickie-bird." Jason walked into the room and crashed on the couch. "Now would you mind keeping it down, I've got a massive hangover. And why the hell is the kid wearing a Robin uniform? So now we're going to let another kid get fucking killed. Fantastic."

Bruce tensed and turned to leave. Jason presence had an unsettling effect on him, mostly a combination of Jason's resurrection and the violent way he conducted himself since his return. Nightwing stepped between him and the door. "Not so fast. We need to have a little family chat."

Bruce and Damian both grumbled about Dick's insufferable actions, drawing yet another round of laughter from the acrobat. But neither Wayne actually moved to leave.

* * *

**Three hours later**

Batman strode into the command center, his irate mood evident in his walk. Having a three hour talk with his sons was not his idea of a pleasant morning. Not that they were bad themselves, rather their fighting was getting on his nerves. He was never more glad than when Superman called him to the command center for some reason.

"What do you want, Kent?"

"We need to talk strategy. Now that we're all back on our feet it's time to get down to business. I assume Dick brought you up to speed on the Darkseid situation?"

Before Batman could respond a familiar voice came over the JLA comm. _"Superman, this is Wonder Woman. I'm five minutes out from Fortress. And I brought a friend. Meet me at the front door."_

Five minutes later Batman and Superman made their way to the giant steel door that served as the main gate to the Fortress of Solitude. Just as promised, Wonder Woman descended from the skies. But Superman noticed something odd.

"You said you brought company?"

Diana smiled. "Now that her training is complete, I present to you: Supergirl!"

At Daina's words Kara flew down straight out of the sun, which had blinded the men to her presence. She was carrying Hawkeye, who looked less than pleased at the situation. After flying down the ground she placed the man on the ground.

"I could have flown myself you know."

Supergirl playfully pointed a finger into his chest. "But it was you who said your flight would be easily tracked via satellite."

"Fine, I'm going inside before you cousin kills me."

Thomas's words brought the women's attention to Superman, who had been glaring at Thomas since his arrival. Supergirl tried her best to fix the situation as Thomas left. "Just so you know, nothing happened. We just talked, that's it."

Superman's tension lifted slightly. Only now did he notice that his baby cousin was wearing a rather feminine version of his own costume. The blue and red design remained in the new costume, but her cape was much smaller than his own. Instead of pants Kara wore a skirt, coupled with red boots. The long sleeved blue top, which had the familiar "S" on the chest, exposed too much of her midriff for Superman's liking, but it wasn't too distasteful. He cocked his toward Diana. "Your work?"

Diana chuckled. "I had a little design input."

Bruce was growing impatient. "Are we done here? We do have planet to save after all."

The big three made their way back to the command center, where they found a guest waiting for them. Batman, having walked in first, greeted her with a nod. "Barda."

Big Barda, ex-captain of Darkseid's honor guard, returned the gesture. "Batman."

Diana was much more cordial. "Barda! It has been too long. How have you been adjusting to life on Earth?"

"It has been a very trying experience. But I am managing. I believe we have more pressing matters to discuss."

Superman nodded in agreement. "So let's get to it. From the Guardian's intelligence, we know that Darkseid's campaign on Tamaran is reaching its end."

"And he will turn his full force against this planet." Diana's tone was solemn.

Barda took the news in stride. "He has held a severe hatred for this world since his defeat all those years ago. But this time, neither nor your cousin is near the strength you held during the previous engagement. I see only one way to win is to flank him."

Superman and Wonder Woman were thrown by the comment. "Flank him how? He'll have a big enough army to cover the planet."

"I will be use my motherbox to infiltrate Apokolips while his army is gone. We will lay waste to the planet."

"No! You cannot go alone."

Barda slammed her giant on the table between them. "I am going, whether or wish me to or not."

Batman nodded. "I'm over it." He turned to his fellow heroes. "Are you?"

Diana did not look pleased. "Fine, but you will take someone with you."

Barda pondered the offer. "Agreed. Now while Batman and I plan the assault on Apokolips, you should tend to Earth's defenses. Our sneak attack will hold no value if the Earth is lost."

Superman and Diana nodded, flying off seek out General Lane to coordinate the military defense of Earth.

* * *

**Steel City – 9:35 p.m.**

While the main Leaguers were off doing work to prepare for Darkseid, The Outlaws found themselves going out on patrol for the first time in well, ever. In fact, it was the first time the whole team had been together since the prison break, though the exception was that Jade was now temporarily on the team as Maya was benched until after her pregnancy. And since Jade was along for the ride, so was Red Arrow. Cameron piloted the ship closer to an apartment complex while Jade fiddled with her new uniform. Ever since she'd become one of the new guys, she had been tersely asked by Black Canary to ditch the assassin outfit. Jade was now decked out in an updated version of her mother's old Huntress costume, a skin tight suit, which Red Arrow thoroughly approved of, with a color design of deep red and yellow in its color design. Instead of a full face mask, Jade now used face paint to cover her eyes.

After Cameron set down the ship, the team split up. Red Arrow and Cheshire took the east side of the city; Arsenal demanded some solo time and stepped off the ship.

"Steel City. Bitter cold. Stinging winds. And the pungent smell of decay. My kind of town"

Arsenal's personal feelings toward the city went largely ignored. Cameron made to follow Arsenal but was stopped by Thomas.

"Sorry kid, you've got a baby on the way. No way I'm letting you see actual field duty. I really don't want a pregnant and angry ex-assassin on my ass if you get hurt. Stay in the ship, keep the cloak on and tap into the local PD radio feed for anything big."

Cameron slumped back into the pilot's seat, sulking in anger at being left behind. Still, he had been given a job and tried to perform it as best he could.

Immediately after turning on the radio scanner he caught a case. "Hawkeye, got a reported rape in progress. Sent the location to your wrist computer."

Hawkeye's wrist beeped as the location of the reported rape popped up on screen. He tapped Hood on the shoulder and the duo took off toward the site. It took the pair about two minutes to traverse the distance to the target. Once there they found a man beating a barely conscious women who had had her clothes ripped apart, leaving her nearly nude and very bloody. Hawkeye nodded to Hood, implementing their approach to these types of situations. Hawkeye jumped down to the alley from the rooftop, his landing purposefully loud to draw the attackers attention.

"You know, I'm pretty sure you're not supposed to treat women like that."

The man drew a knife as he face Thomas. "And just who the hell are you? Some Nightwing wannabe?"

Thomas laughed, further confusing the assailant. "Sorry, it's just that Nightwing actually copied his costume from me." Thomas gestured to the eagle on his chest. "Other than changing this to blue, it's pretty much the same thing. Oh, and back to the matter at hand. We really don't like it when assholes hit women."

The man sneered. "Who's 'we'?"

His question was answered as Red Hood swung down on his grappling line, kicking the man into a nearby trash bin. The man recovered, attempting to reach for his knife. Jason was faster, stomping on the man's hand and lifting him up to look him in the eye. Jason stared a moment behind the helmet before butting the man so hard that he shattered his nose, leaving his face a bloody mess. While the man squirmed in pain Jason pulled off the assailant's coat and tossed it to the woman before turning his attention to tying up the man for the police. Without a word, the duo took back off into the night. Once on the roof, it was a different story.

"So, nice to see you still now how to do the job. I take it you're done wallowing?"

Jason's face was unreadable behind the helmet and his response was measured. "Mostly. Still can't believe the kid's gone."

"No offense man, but didn't you pretty much hate him?"

Jason's tone loosened up. "Maybe at first, but then I was only mad at Bruce for putting another kid in danger."

"Did you ever tell him? Tim, I mean."

"No. And now he's putting his own kid in danger."

"To be fair, the kid went out on patrol on his own; I don't think the big guy knew."

"You're probably right. Hard to believe Batman has a son though. We really must be at the end of the world."

"Closer than anyone wants to admit."

"Think we've got a shot?"

"Maybe." Hawkeye paused, staring up into the night sky. "We're starting down the barrel of pretty damn big gun. No question it's going to hit us, it's just a matter of whether or not we can survive the impact."

* * *

**Apokolips**

"You have failed me yet again, Godfrey." Darkseid's voice was filled with malice.

Godfrey fell to his kneews before his master's throne. "I do not understand Lord Darkseid. The heroes were defeated. Now they are returning, threatening to undo everything you have planned."

"Their efforts will be wasted. Even now, they do not know we have fed misleading intel to the Guardian spy who has kept tabs on us."

Godfrey rose from his position on the ground. "Might I inquire as to your meaning my lord?"

Darkseid smiled, his grey teeth showing a wicked grin. "The Guardians are no doubt feeding their intelligence to the Earthlings, but they do not know that Desaad is already returning. We will destroy those pathetic humans and adds it planet resources to our war machine.

Godfrey joined his master, smiling widely. "All hail Lord Darkseid!"

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	13. Seige

**Here it is, the beginning of the finale. Enjoy!**

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**June 20 -9:30 a.m.**

"All available personnel, report to briefing room immediately." Batman's voice had a tint of worry in it; though very few in the Fortress were familiar enough with them man to pick up on that. For the handful that could, they knew just how serious the situation truly was.

Once the 25 or so heroes were assembled, Batman began a short briefing. "We've just received word from Oa that Darkseid's invasion is imminent, several days ahead of the expected timeframe. We only have a few hours to get everyone mobilized."

Before Batman could continue, Barbara Gordon came running into the room. "We've just picked up boom tubes opening up all over the globe! It's starting."

Some of the younger heroes were starting to freak out you don't need to say "slightly" since you have "started" already there, but Batman silenced everyone with a look, even though one of his former trainees had just declared that the apocalypse (or Apokolips, in this case,) was upon them. "Everyone into the ships. You'll receive your deployment orders on takeoff. Good luck."

The room emptied in a rush of bodies heading for the hangar bay. Hawkeye rounded up the Outlaws, minus Maya, and they piled into their ship when Oracle came over the League-wide broadcast."

"_We've decided to put you all in the field on the Eastern seaboard of the U.S. We'd be spread too thin to cover the globe, boom tubes have been spotted in 37 separate cities. We've put out the call to Atlantis again, but they still haven't responded. We're on our own. Good luck, Oracle out."_

The mood was grim in the stolen Reach vessel as Hawkeye engaged the cloak and hauled ass out of the Fortress on route to Washington D.C. Apparently, Oracle had not loss her sense of irony, as Thomas's team assigned to a position just a few hundred feet from the ruins of the Hall of Justice. Pushing the engines past the red line had the team on station in a little less than 25 minutes.

As they flew over the D.C. area, a war was raging beneath them. General Lane had come through, it seemed. After Luthor had declared the situation at DEFCON 1, the standby troops that Lane had ordered were immediately dispatch to quell the tide of the parademons streaming out of the boom tubes all over the city.

Setting down at the location of the ruined Hall, the team got a good look at their adversary. The Apokoliptan troops were wearing some type of green armor underneath a harness of some gold-like metal. Some carried laser and plasma guns; others carried vicious-looking swords and spears. Worse was the sheer number of them. There were easily thousands of them in this location alone.

"Don't remember flight being in the mission briefing."

"Shut up, Hood." Hawkeye set the ship to combat auto-pilot and readied to exit. "We've got a job to do."

"You think anyone's coming back from that?" Jason swung his arm over the forward viewpoint for emphasis. Outside the ship, human troops engaged the alien invader, but were being overrun despite their valiant efforts.

Thomas slapped Hood on the helmet, causing him step forward from the impact. "Damn straight we are. If you want to chicken out and stay in the ship, fine by me. But I'm getting out there and kicking their fucking asses!"

Hawkeye turned around the jumped out of the ship, which was hovering several feet off the ground. After Colt and Arsenal followed Jason shook his head to focus and ran after his friends, not that he'd ever admit he'd assigned them the label.

The quartet didn't need to wait long to run into the action. There were so many parademons that they attacked seconds after exiting the ship. Hawkeye, Colt and Arsenal moved to engage, unaware Red Hood was behind them. Before the three could fight the enemies, three loud cracks were heard, followed by the three lead aliens dropping to the ground. The heroes turned back to look and saw Hood blowing the smoke from his gun.

"What? I ain't no fuckin' pussy. I should shoot you for even suggesting it."

Hawkeye smirked and turned back to the fight, using his pyrokinetics to fly into the air, intentionally drawing the attention of a contingent of parademons harassing a platoon of human troops. The first demon flew straight for the hero, who scooted sideways at the last minute and clotheslined the alien, causing him to fall to the earth, spinning as he fell. Arsenal shot a cluster shot from his arm cannon, downing three aliens in the blast.

"So, anyone up for a little competition?"

Colt let loose a volley from his Colt .45s, dropping four demons who were about to slaughter the group of troops. "Sure, looks like I'm winning anyway."

Jason replied in a cocky tone, "Please, you boys got nothing on me." The helmeted vigilante grabbed a grenade from his belt. After pooping the pin Jason tossed the explosive into a cluster of aliens rushing toward them, obliterating the group of five.

As the three on the ground were bickering, Thomas was overhead taking on a squad of airborne aliens. As they bum rushed him, he used his flame ability to overheat their armor's flight tech. Seven aliens quickly rained down from the sky between the heroes on the ground.

Hawkeye gave a quick shout. "Sorry, what were you guys saying about a competition? I think I just took the lead!"

Cameron shook his head at his leader's comment. Hawkeye landed next to the boys who made their way over the troop's position. The men quickly rushed to the heroes.

"Who they hell are you guys?"

"We're the Outlaws. And we're to help."

A slightly older gentlemen pushed back through the crowd. "Corporal Travis. Charlie Company leader. Damn glad to see you boys."

Thomas shook the man's extended hand. "Just doing our job, sir. What's the situation in the city?"

As the man tried to answer, a high-pitched whine was heard overhead. Heads snapped up to hear the offending object. Hawkeye saw the alien missile first.

"Incoming!" At Hawkeye's order, the men around him bolted for cover. Seconds later, a deafening explosion destroyed the street where the men had just been standing. As the four heroes emerged from behind their cover of an overturned Humvee, they found that the troops weren't doing the same. Rushing over to the site of the impact, the four noticed the bodies of the platoon, strewn throughout the straight. As they surveyed the carnage, a radio broadcast was heard from Corporal Travis's radio.

"This is General Sam Lane. Is anyone out there? I've a got a squad pinned down at the Washington Monument, requesting reinforcements A.S.A.P. Does anyone copy?"

Thoams reached for radio and depressed the talk button. "General Lane. This is Hawkeye, my team and I are en route to your location, stay safe if you can."

The General's reply was swift. "Well you better move your ass boy, we're about to be overrun!"

* * *

**The Washington Monument**

General Lane was not a man who broke easily, which was probably why he was still alive. After the initial assault, he had setup shop in the Washington and Lincoln Memorials as an in-city command base/field hospital. After the secondary Apokopiltan forces arrived, the position was quickly overrun, forcing the command staff and a few Marines into the monument itself.

Lane popped the clip out of his pistol, examining the remaining bullets. "Ammo check!"

The men in the lobby of the monument checked their weapons and what they carried with them during the retreat from the base. When all totaled up, there was seven clips for the 4 M16 rifles, eight clips for the 9mm pistols, four hand grenades and three stun grenades. Lane popped his clip back in and pulled the slide back to chamber a round. The general looked around at the men with him, sizing them up, checking to see who was cracking and who would keep fighting. With grim satisfaction he noted that 8 men in the room was hard, only anger apparent in their eyes. Lane was confident the men wouldn't fail him.

That assertion was put to the test as a second wave of menacing Parademons began forming outside the memorial, apparently aware of the men inside the structure. The demons growled in anticipation of the quick kills, their energy weapons glowing with unrelenting power. Suddenly, the aliens opened fire on the troop's position. They shrunk into cover as the laser ripped through the concrete as though the building's exterior was little more than butter. But as quickly as it started, the barrage ceased. Lane looked around to survey the casualties, silently glad that everyone appeared unscathed. What truly caught his attention was the sound of human voices from outside the monument. A small group of men were seemingly yelling back and forth a series of numbers.

"47!" Gunfire followed the exclamation.

"How's 52 grab ya, bitches?"

"Pff, I'm already to 60."

Gunfire popped through the air. "Horseshit, Arsenal."

"You're just jealous, Hood." An explosion sounded just after the young man spoke, then the ground shook. Something had fallen out of the sky.

"That still only counts as one!" The man who'd shouted the number 47 was the first to speak.

"What about all the aliens inside?" A new voice joined the loud and boisterous conversation; it seemed oddly familiar to the general.

The second man's voice sounded back.. "Don't know how many were in there, so we'll just go with one."

Upon hearing that the battle was momentarily stopped, Lane walked out of the memorial to see what was going on. After surveying the wreckage of a medium sized alien platform the troops took notice of the group of four heroes. They watched somewhat awestruck as man clad in black and orange descended from the sky in a burst of flame. Sam Lane was not as impressed.

"Hawkeye. 'Bout time you showed up."

Hawkeye smiled. "Well, we got held up in traffic back on Seventh Ave. Had to cut across Fourth Street."

Lane's grim face broke out in a slight smirk, a fairly uncommon sight on the man's face to those who knew him. He quickly resumed his stoic demeanor. "Sitrep?"

"On the way here we got a few platoons out of the line of fire. They're holed up in the Smithsonian Castle, waiting on your orders."

"Damn fine work, gentlemen. But we're nowhere near done. We've got a city to save." A loud boom punctuated the general's words. The men on the ground looked up to see the disturbance. Above them, an orange circle appeared in the sky. Aliens began streaming out in uncountable numbers. The Parademons moved to surround the group of 12 on the ground, staying airborne as they circled their prey.

The sky suddenly opened up in a hail of red and green light. Most of the men on the ground closed their eyes, certain those blasts of energy would be the last thing they would see on this earth. Hawkeye and The Outlaws stood in defiance, throwing everything they could at the aliens, trying to take as many of the aliens with them as they could.

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**So, what did you think? Drop me a review!**


	14. At World's End

**This is the part 2 of the 3-part finale. Shout out to Ansa88 for betaing this chapter.**

**Enjoy!**

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**Previously on The Outlaws:**

_The sky suddenly opened up in a hail of red and green light. Most of the men on the ground closed their eyes, certain those blasts of energy would be the last thing they would see on this earth. Hawkeye and The Outlaws stood in defiance, throwing everything they could at the aliens, trying to take as many of the aliens with them as they could._

* * *

**Washington D.C.**

As Hawkeye and The Outlaws moved to eliminate the aliens around them, they were stopped by the blasts of red and green energy. Instead of killing the small group of humans on the ground, the blasts sliced through the ranks of the parademon horde. The men's heads snapped up to the sky where they saw a red ship, quite familiar to the members of The Outlaws, alongside a contingent of Green Lanterns as well as a duo with very distinct wings on their back. Ahead of the Lanterns flew a lone woman, who was raining green blasts down on the invaders.

After the initial barrage the newcomers broke off, chasing after the aliens. The Hawks got in close on a group of demons, using their maces to bash in their skulls. The Lanterns remained separated from the main battle, using their rings to pick off the invaders from a distance. The unidentified young woman flew toward the Outlaw's position on the ground as they fought off a group of aliens. Two green figures dropped out of the ship, their eyes glowing green as the nearby aliens were knocked out of the sky by a powerful psychic blast. With the immediate threat neutralizes the newcomers regrouped on the ground.

Hawkeye surveyed the group before assume a mock angry tone. "What took you guys so long?"

The comment drew a light laugh from the Lantern. While Hal conversed with General Lane the largest of the Lantern slapped Thomas on the arm. "Came as fast we could, poozer. And I'm still waiting on a thank you for saving your hide."

Hawkeye shrugged off the jab. "I had them right where I wanted them, Kilowog. You guys just stole my Thunder."

While Kilowog got a good laugh out of Hawkeye's remark, J'onn J'onnz and M'gann M'orrz floated over to The Outlaws. The Martian Manhunter's accented voice greeted the younger heroes. "Apologies for our late arrival. Our communication with Earth is quite limited and it was not until Hal Jordan informed us the situation that we became aware of invasion."

M'gann nodded in agreement. "I'm just glad we got here in time to help.

Arsenal uncrossed his arms as M'gann flew out around the hug each of the Outlaws. "Us too, M'gann. Us too."

Todd stepped toward the Hawks. "Still doesn't explain how you two got here. From what I remember of my galactic geography Thanagar is pretty much on the other side of Oa from Earth."

"A subspace communication from Oa informed us the coming battle." Hawkman swung his mace for emphasis. "And we never miss a fight."

Cameron turned to the new girl. "And who are you?"

The girl stood awkwardly to the side of the group and didn't acknowledge the question at first. The team watched her for a few seconds, Todd and Harper mostly just looked at her body. The young woman's yellowish skin was sparsely covered by a purple garment that would not appear out of fashion on a Florida beach during spring break. When she saw everyone staring at her she started speaking in an odd alien tongue. It took her only a few sentences, or what the humans guessed were sentences, before seeing the confusion on everyone's face. Without any hesitation she strode up to Arsenal, the person nearest to her, and kissed him. Arsenal was shocked at the action, but not wholly unpleased by it. But before he could return the gesture, the girl pulled back and began speaking in near perfect English.

"Greetings. My name is Koriand'r, of Tamaran."

While Arsenal was recovering from the kiss, Todd leaped forward the great the beautiful young girl. "Hi, welcome to Earth. So what's brings you to this corner of the galaxy?"

Koriand'r gave the earthling an up-and-down glance before answering. Her tone shifted from neutral indifference to fierce rage. "I have come to exact revenge on Darkseid for the destruction of my world."

Hal and the general rejoined the conversation. Lane was mostly interested in her last statement. "He destroyed a planet of people like you?"

"Not exactly like me. My family has the ability to absorb ultraviolet radiation, but I only acquired the ability to redirect it recently, I suspect due to the treatment of my captors."

"Captors?"

"I was sold into slavery in an attempt to save us from Darkseid and his minions. When I escaped my imprisonment, I attempted to fly back to Tamaran. On the way I was set upon by pirates, these Green Lanterns saved me and told me of Tamaran's fate."

No one spoke, save of Jason's barely audible statement. "Oh."

Koriand'r took a deep breath before beginning again. "But that does not matter. Now we must fight these invaders, or Earth will suffer the same fate as my home."

Lane nodded. "You heard the lady. Anyone of you heroes know the status of the Gotham team?"

Hawkeye shook his head. "We'll get on that, sir. They had the bigger team, so I doubt they're in much trouble."

* * *

**Gotham City**

As Hawkeye was in D.C., he could not have known how wrong his words would prove to be. Since Gotham was a much larger city than the capitol, the remaining active heroes had assigned a much larger force to defend the city and its inhabitants. In fact, everyone who wasn't in D.C. had been sent to the Gotham/New York area. Wonder Woman, Icon, and Captain Marvel roamed the skies, while Batman's protégés patrolled Crime Alley and the surrounding slums. Artemis, Kid Flash, Red Arrow, Chesire and Black Canary handled downtown. The members of Sigma Squad defended the harbor area alongside Wonder Girl, Blue Beetle and Beast Boy.

At first, the battle was decidedly in favor of the Earth's defenders. Having some of the League's heaviest hitters definitely helped, but it also served as a double-edged sword of sorts. Diana had been present during Darkseid's last attempt to conquer the planet and the Apokoliptan god ordered his parademons to focus on the big three of Superman, Batman, and Wonder Woman. With only the Amazon on the battlefield, the invaders redeployed to Gotham upon confirmation of her presence. After half an hour of fighting, Gotham was nearly overrun and the youngest heroes were fairing the worst.

After tossing a few aliens in his gorilla form, Beast Boy turned back to his human form to speak into his radio. "Nightwing, Beast Boy. We need back up at the docks a.s.a.p.! We're being overrun!"

Nightwing's reply was quick. _"Same here B. We'll come when we can. Stay traught."_

After hearing Nightwing's reply, Garfield changed into a wolf and leaped back into the fight.

"Come on guys, we need to hold them back!" Wonder Girl yelled down to the ground as she swung a lassoed alien in a circle, knocking aside multiple invaders.

"We're trying, _chica_!There's too many!" Blue Beetled blasted a few aliens with his sonic cannon to give them a bath in Gotham Harbor.

While those three took the fight to the enemy, the members of Sigma Squad protected their position, keeping the aliens from flanking them or breaching the perimeter. Penny kept a constant swirl of metal around the team, opening for other's attacks when necessary. The metal provided a conductive material for Sam to amplify her electrical attack. Tom picked off any aliens that got inside the Penny/Sam tag-team. Sam had at first been able to keep the aliens at bay with her electrical ability, but started to run out of power due to the prolonged engagement. Soon, the aliens were crowding around Penny's defensive shield. As the number of invaders increased they began throwing themselves at the rotating mass of metal that the teens had all retreated behind. After several dozen attempts, they broke through, causing Penny to lose focus and drop the shield altogether. The nearest demon lunged for the heroes, his intent to kill written clearly on his gray face, but before he could reach his goal something silver struck him atop the head, rendering him either dead or unconscious.

The aliens paused to see the source of the projectile. If they could have felt fear, the sight of Wonder Woman would have inspired it as she caught her boomeranging tiara in front of over a dozen heroes.

"Now this isn't a very concerting situation." Nightwing, high on the adrenaline rush, couldn't resist the play on words as he sprang into action alongside the other heroes.

In short order, the combined forces of the heroes dealt with the numerous aliens, but the victory was short lived. After dispatching the final aliens, another boom tube appeared near the heroes, announcing its presence with noise and a bright orange light. Instead of more parademons, a more unique set of aliens stormed out of the portal. The group was all female, and each was stranger looking and more menacing that the last. One tanned woman with white hair wielded a pair of sword. Another, dressed in black, held a wicked looking knife. A well-endowed red head looked like she could go toe to toe with Wonder Woman. There was even a woman who liked a cross between Joker and a parademon, complete with long green hair and razor sharp claws for hands. There were no grand introductions or threats of doom as women set straight to their task.

In the blink of an eye, one woman sped forward into the heroes, landing several knockout punches on the younger heroes before any of them could blink. Kid Flash took off after the women, but was unprepared for her skill set. While still moving at super-speed she turned and delivered a swift arm bar to clothesline him. Despite his recently acquired speed boost, he was still not up to the level of his uncle, who was still recovering in the Fortress. The alien speedster pinned down Wally with a bronze knife just above the heart.

Icon was set upon by the green clad woman, whose knife somehow pierced his invulnerable skin. He felt a burning from inside his abdomen that rendered him unable to continue fighting. Wonder Woman knocked out the knife-wielder, but found herself locked in battle with the red head. The white and green haired females set to work attacking the other heroes. Blue Beetle attempted to block the attack from the white-haired woman's swords, but the blades sliced through his armor and into his flash. The razor clawed one managed to leave four deep gashed in Wonder Girl's side. Seeing the blood pouring out of Cassie's side, Garfield grew enraged and attacked the assailant head on, which ended with the green skinned boy reverting back from gorilla form into his human body, clutching his stomach as green blood joined Cassie's on the pavement. The other heroes present took on a fresh contingent of parademons while Captain Marvel took on the white and green haired women, fighting them to a standstill.

Soon the numbers of parademons threatened to overwhelm the heroes' efforts, but from out of nowhere a torrential wave of water flowed out the harbor, suspiciously striking only the alien invaders. The heroes and the female fighters looked to the water only to find Aquaman and a legion of Atlantean troops rising from the water and onto the pavement. Despite the chaos the alien holding the knife on Kid Flash's chest moved to plunged the blade into his heart. She was thoroughly shocked when the man's body shook faster than even she could see and the knife passed right through him into the ground.

"Bet that's something they didn't teach you on Apokolips." Wally super-sped a punch to the woman's temple, knocking her out cold before speeding off the help the heroes turn the tables on the invaders.

After the parademons were swept away Wonder Woman and Captain Marvel were able to gain the upper hand on their opponents, bringing the attack to an end. With the immediate crisis was over, Dinah radioed Oracle.

"Oracle, Black Canary here. Gotham's more or less secure at the moment. What's the status of Hawekye's team?"

Before Oracle could respond, Hawkeye interrupted the conversation. _"Got a little hairy, but we're all in one piece. How's things on your end?"_

"Four critically wounded. I'm sending them with Artemis in a Javelin back to the Fortress for treatment. And you will not believe you showed up to help."

"_Mind if I ask who that might be?"_

"Aquaman."

"_Well, if you don't mind would you ask where the hell his ass has been for the last 11 months?"_

"I'm sure he will tell us when there is time. Oracle, what's the global situation?"

"_Not good. While you lot may have saved two cities, we've got reports of invaders attacking 30 other cities around the world and we're already down four people."_

No one spoke after hearing the grim news until Hawkeye came back over the comm. _"Oracle, better get our Kryptonian friends out the UV pods. Looks like our big bad just showed up."_

* * *

**Washington D.C.**

While Hawkeye discussed the situation with the other heroes on The Mall, another boomtube opened up, this one in front of the White House. A lone, towering figure stepped from the portal and started at the balcony overlooking the grounds. Though the president was deep in an underground bunker, the White House was not deserted. A news crew had setup shop on the on the grounds amidst the chaos. The reporters dropped their mics as the cameraman panned to capture the full seven plus feet of the being's height. Though the mic was on the ground, it could still pick up the reporter's solitary question.

"Who are you?"

The being turned his red-eyed stare toward the camera. "You're new Lord and Master. You may call me…Darkseid."

* * *

**So, what did you think? Leave me a review if you've got the time!**


	15. The Omega

**I titled this chapter 'The Omega' because it means 'The Last', which is fitting because this is the final part of the finale as well as the name of Darkseid's signature weapon. I hope you've enjoyed the ride thus far; it's certainly been fun on my end.**

**Thank you to all the readers, especially those who take the time to review each chapter. The feedback I get from you few is amazing and gives a great sense of pride. Plus, it makes me want to get that next update uploaded as soon as possible.**

**Big thanks to Ansa88 for beta-ing the chapter and also a shout out to RenkonNairu, who gave me some great advice on how to lengthen the final fight scene.**

**Enjoy!**

* * *

**June 20th  
Fortress of Solitude  
1:15 p.m.**

"God, I hate feeling this useless!" Barry Allen did not like being cooped up in a single place for too long, and the speedster had been under doctor ordered house rest for at least another week. So he took up residence in the Fortress' command center, which was annoying Barbara Gordon to no end.

"Barry, we all know you want to be fighting, but right now that's not on the table. Now would you keep it down, I've got to keep a pretty constant eye on the battle reports."

"You are much less fun than I remember you being Batgirl."

Barbara stiffened at the use of her old moniker. "It's Oracle. And this past year has changed a lot people."

Before the two could continue their banter a call came in over the comm. _"Oracle, Black Canary here. Gotham's more or less secure at the moment. What's the status of Hawkeye's team?"_

Before Oracle could respond, Hawkeye interrupted the conversation. _"Got a little hairy Canary, but we're all in one piece. How's things on your end?"_

_"Four critically wounded. I'm sending them with Artemis in a Javelin back to the Fortress for treatment. And you will not believe you showed up to help."_

"_Mind if I ask who that might be?"_

_"Aquaman."_

"_Well, if you don't mind would you ask where the hell his ass has been for the last 11 months?"_

_"I'm sure he will tell us when there is time. Oracle, what's the global situation?"_

"Not good. While you lot may have saved two cities, we've got reports of invaders attacking 30 other cities around the world and we're already down four people."

No one spoke after hearing the grim news until Hawkeye came back over the comm. _"Oracle, better get our Kryptonian friends out the UV pods. Looks like our big bad just showed up."_

After Hawkeye's report about Darkseid's, arrival it didn't take long for the surviving D.C. news teams to give an update on the alien god's presence to the rest of the world. Barbara Gordon missed the live broadcasts because she was busy sprinting through the Fortress of Solitude to get to the healing room. As she sprinted through the designated lounge, her actions caught the attention of Maya who being roughly 4 months pregnant was busy babysitting Lian for Roy and Jade.

"Something wrong?"

Barbara never broke stride while offering an over the shoulder response. "No time, talk later."

By the time the former Batgirl was to the healing room she was completely gassed. Having only recently gotten back to walking without a cane, the run was extremely taxing. She made her way to the center console and turned off the healing UV units like Superman had showed her. As the humming in the room died, Oracle stepped back to the edge of the room to see what was happening. The pods that Superboy, Supergirl, and Superman were inhabiting had been giving off an extreme amount of artificial sunlight. Given the treatment that the two male Kryptonians received at the hands of Checkmate, the years of yellow sun radiation they had stored in their bodies was completely wiped out. And Kara had only been on Earth for just under two months. In a prolonged fight with Darkseid, they wouldn't last very long.

As the light in the pods dissipated completely, there was an audible hiss from each as the door at the front of the pod opened outward. The three Kryptonians all stirred back to consciousness. After Superman was fully awake, he flew over to Barbara.

"Is he here?"

Barbara nodded. "Yeah, Hawkeye radioed his position a few minutes ago. I came back and got you as soon as I could."

The powerhouse heroes had all gone into the pods suited up and were ready to go. Superman motioned for Superboy to climb on his back, and the younger man grunted in reply. Barbara put a hand on Connor's shoulder before he climbed aboard the Superman Express.

"Be careful. You guys aren't at full strength."

"I know B. We only need to hold him long enough for the plan to work."

Barbara nodded and felt the sudden rush of air that occurred whenever someone used super speed. As she stared down the hall they have flown through, she whispered a final sentiment.

"Good luck."

Unknown to the others, Barry Allen had sped down the hall soon after Barbara and watched the whole scene unfold. With a renewed determination, the Flash took off back to his makeshift quarters and retrieved a rather identifiable ring.

* * *

**Washington D.C.**

"You cannot hope to stand against me, human." The booming voice of Darkseid sounded over The Mall.

Hawkeye didn't respond to the statement, knowing full well it was true. All he needed to do was draw his attention away from civilians until the Super family arrived. While the rest of his team and the new arrivals dealt with the surrounding parademons forces, Hawkeye continued taking ineffective potshots alien tyrant.

After a blast of flame to the face, Darkseid no longer tolerated the annoyance. His gray-stone-like skin rumbled with every step he took towards Hawkeye's position. His face contorted as his already red eyes glowed brighter, unleashing dual beams of energy. Hawkeye immediately moved to dodge the beam, but found that they tracked his every movement. He dove, jumped, and somersaulted to the nearest parademon, using the alien as a shield against the onslaught.

A few yards away, Jason cracked off several lethal shots in some nearby parademons with Roy covering his six. Harper loaded a charge for the laser cannon in his arm.

"Last charge Hood. And I'm out of everything else."

Jason spoke between rounds of gunfire. "Start throwing rocks if you have to, I don't really care!"

Cameron, who was being covered by General Lane and a few Marines sniped a parademon out of the air before turning on his comm. "How 'bout we focus more on the killing and less on the bickering."

Neither man responded to Cameron's comment, but all three briefly paused as they saw Darkseid charge up another blast of his Omega Beams with Thomas as the intended target. In unison they opened fire on the 7'0" alien, but their efforts had little effect except to draw his attention to them. Darkseid shifted his gaze to the duo of Roy and Jason and let loose another volley of energy. Thinking quickly, Thomas grabbed the nearest demon and whirled him around before letting it fly toward his friends. The beams struck the alien just before they reach Jason and Roy.

"Impressive. You are one of the few beings to ever survive a blast from my Omega Beams. But it will not happen again."

Again, Darkseid's eyes flashed bright, but before they could release their energy, the large alien was thrown sideways, leaving a sizeable gash on the ground in his wake. Hawkeye gave one final quip. "Well, certainly looks like you were right about that last part."

Darkseid growled in response as the hero retreated to rejoin his team in fighting of the still attacking parademons. The ruler of Apokolips brought his attention to the source of the hit, not surprised to see three Kryptonians standing in fighting stance.

"It seems that Earth's defenders are not as weak as I was lead to believe. No matter, I will still burn this planet into a lifeless husk of rock."

Superboy jumped toward the grey-skinned alien, thinking a punch to the face was an appropriate response. Kon-El was quite surprised when Darkseid caught his punch mid-air and whirled him around until he was flying toward the White House. Superboy crashed into the stone, collapsing half the building. Kara and Superman waited for Darkseid to make the next move.

"You think that boy could stand against me? I kill him slowly, making you watch his agony."

Supergirl and Superman both shot a blast of heat vision at Darkseid, who brushed off the attack. "Is that the best you can do?"

Before Kara or Kal-El could attack a large tree flew out of nowhere to smack Darkseid's face. The large alien looked around for the source, only to find Superboy floating in the distance. If Darkseid felt surprise at the fact that the half-Kryptonian was flying, he did not show it, though the other two Kryptonians certainly did.

Superboy noticed the look of shock on his relative's faces and shrugged. "New power. We'll talk about how you never noticed it later."

Connor flew like a bullet towards Darkseid, but his strike was cut short as the alien met Superboy's with a fist atop his head, driving the Kryptonian clone into the ground.

Superman sped forward, delivering a powerful punch to Darkseid's face. The force from the contact created a concussive shockwave, blowing out the glass of the windows in a two-block radius. The powerful punch sent Darkseid tumbling backward, but he quickly righted himself.

"You do not have the strength to match me, Kryptonian."

Superman's determinations showed through his voice. "We'll see about that."

Kal-El sped in again. This time, the tactic failed. There was another shockwave due to Darkseid catching Superman's punch. With his free hand, Darkseid threw a vicious uppercut into Superman's abdomen, causing the wind to flee the Kryptonian's lungs. Even at full power, Superman would have had a hard time in a fight of pure strength against Darkseid, but he was nowhere near 100 percent now. The second blow from the alien sent Superman rocketing backward, straight into a charging Kara. Both heroes were thrown backwards into the street.

"I came to this planet believing my presence would be required to best you. But it seems I needn't have bothered. Without the mighty Kryptonians, who would stand against me?"

"I could always try." A new challenger drew Darskeid's gaze skyward, straight into the sun. The blinding light allowed Wonder Woman a chance to come straight at the villain without interference, her flying punch sending him flying backward into a minivan.

As Darkseid attempted to extract himself from the metal contraption he lifted into the air by a torrent of water. He caught a glimpse of a man clad in orange wielding a trident. After he cleared the seventh story of a nearby building the water ceased, leaving him to fall back to the Earth in a free fall. Diana flew up to meet him with another powerful punch, but the Amazon was surprised when Darkseid grabbed her. Darkseid used his momentum to throw Wonder Woman down to the pavement below before landing on top of her.

He stood and heard a satisfying cry of pain from the woman below him. He was impressed when the woman fought through the pain and attempted to sweep his legs out from under him. The attempt failed as Diana didn't have the strength to complete the maneuver. Darkseid stomped on his right leg, crushing the bone from the force of the attack.

The Outlaws opened fire on the invader, only drawing a laugh as a response. "This is beneath me."

Darkseid stomped the ground with his left foot, causing a minor quake which forced The Outlaws onto the ground. Parademons surrounded the heroes, pointing their glowing energy rifles at their heads.

"Fear not, they will not kill you. You will watch this planet burn before I will release you from this pitiful existence.

Supergirl, awakened by the shaking earth, rolled her unconscious cousin off her. "Would you just shut up?"

The blonde flew from the ground toward th alien, circling him at near Flash-level speeds. As she circled him, she rained down blows to his face. She continued her rapid assault as Darkseid's helmet crumpled in on his head, his skin cracking under the strain. Darkseid wildly attempted to stop the onslaught, finally succeeding in catching Supergirl's cape. After stopping her assault Darkseid whipped Kara around into the ground. Kara crashed back to the Earth in pain, watching as Darkseid advanced.

"It is time to end this game, girl. For your insolence, you and your cousin will die."

Darkseid powered up Omega Beams as Kara was still attempting to get back on her feet. She was too slow, as the red beams pierced the air and soared toward her. She put her hands up on instinct, but knew that even her Kryptonian skin wouldn't hold for long against one of the most powerful weapons in the galaxy. But before the beams struck her, she was knocked sideways by an unknown force.

Kara rolled over to see her savior, only to see a red streak running away from the battle. The beams followed whoever had saved her from certain death. But the feeling of relief was short-lived, thanks to Darkseid's howl of anger.

"Insolent speedsters! No matter, my Omega Beams will follow him to the ends of the earth. Not even the great Flash can outrun them forever." Darkseid turned his attention back to Kara. "And now there is no one left to save you."

Darkseid's words were punctuated by the familiar sound and sight of a boom tube opening up near the tyrant. Batman stepped through the portal, keeping it open as he spoke.

"Darkseid! You're war is over. Surrender."

Darskeid laughed. "Foolish human. I have beaten your mightiest warriors, the Earth's armies lie in ruins. Tell me, why would I surrender?"

"Because I just came from Apokolips, where each and every one of your 500 Hellspores are now armed to explode. Unless I disarm them, that is."

"Impossible."

"U. R. Seven X. L. L. Zero. Zero. Nine."

"The-"

"Arming code, just in case you thought I was bluffing. I reset their individual codes using Barda's Motherbox. You made it very easy to storm your armory with all of your forces committed to Earth."

Darkseid snarled in a fit of rage. "You will disarm them!"

"No."

Darkseid flung himself at the Dark Knight, throwing him into a nearby tree. "Disarm them!"

"No, not until you leave and swear to never return. You may have beaten the Kryptonians here, but do you really think you can kill everyone on this planet before we call in reinforcements from Mars or Oa?"

Darkseid's rage overrode his common sense, causing him to attack Batman yet again. This time, Batman sidestepped the ferocious and undisciplined attack. "Surrender or I set off the Hellspores. Just one is enough to turn a planet into a smoldering husk, imagine what 500 could do to you precious world."

Darkseid froze at the words and stared at Batman. "If any other human spoke to me in such a manner I would not hesitate to kill them. But you, I believe you would sacrifice every human on this miserable planet just to see me fall. I will leave, after you provide me with the disarming codes."

"They're programmed into a computer terminal in your palace." Batman motioned for Darkseid to step through the still open boom tube. "After you."

Before crossing the portal's threshold, Darkseid turned to Batman. "You know I will return."

"And we'll be here, waiting to beat you for the third time."

"We shall see." And with those parting words the alien invader was gone, his army opening their own portals to return to Apokolips.

With the fighting over Hawkeye made his way over to Batman. "So we've got what? A few hours until he's back."

"Try a few years."

"Come again?"

"I reset the coordinates of the portal after I got here."

"To where?"

"The middle of the nowhere. There isn't a planet or a shipping lane for 50 light-years all around him. We won't be seeing Darkseid for a very long time."

Another boom tube opened up near the group. Expecting a fight, they braced themselves for another attack, but their response was unnecessary as only Big Barda stepped through before it closed.

"We were successful?"

Batman nodded. "We were."

Kara got back to her feet. "What about the man who saved me, this 'Flash'?"

Batman's brow furrowed; his face still unreadable. "I don't know."

* * *

**Somewhere on the Atlantic**

_Got to go faster. _Barry Allen repeated that mantra over and over again as he ran around the Earth for what was now the fourth time in a matter of minutes. It had been years since he had sprinted this fast for this long, but it seemed to do little to keep the Omega Beams from gaining on him. Somehow, the energy was picking up in speed and intensity. So he did the only thing he knew how to do well; run faster. Soon after crossing into Russia Barry hit a wall, one that Jay Garrick had told him no speedster should ever cross. But the beams were still behind him, there red glow was clear in his peripheral vision. And so the Flash pressed on. Within seconds he knew he was going faster than he ever had, but at the same time felt weak, almost as if he was less connected to the ground he was running on. Still running, Barry watched as the world around him faded out of existence, never knowing that to the world it was he who was fading away.

* * *

**What happened to Flash? What will happen to the League? Will the public ever trust their heroes again? These questions and more will be answered in the epilogue, so stay tuned for the next and final update!**


	16. Epilogue

**And so we come at last to the final update for The Outlaws. For those interested in this AU I will be finishing up Court Is In Session very soon and then will embark on a sequel to this story. I believe I'm going to attempt to tackle a story involving the introduction of Kyle Rayner into the AU along with the Sinestro Corps War.**

**I hope this epilogue serves as an appropriate sendoff to this story. **

**Enjoy!**

* * *

**1 month later – July 20  
The Fortress of Solitude**

The month after the invasion was a tumultuous one to say the least. After getting the priority repairs completed, the legislatures around the world held long and highly publicized sessions centering around the issue of repealing the deviations of the superhero ban within their borders. In fact, the U.N. issued a formal statement regarding the return to the former status quo of allowing heroes to operate globally. In fact, government around the world had already committed money to rebuilding the Hall of Justice. There was already a design competition for the statues that would be placed in the building. While the public opinion of heroes was near an all-time high, the members of the hero community were not quite sure how to move forward in the wake of not one, but two global crises. Which was why the Justice League's leaders had called a conference meeting to discuss the future of the hero community.

"Make no mistake, the decisions we make here today will have consequences that shape the world for years to come." After opening the meeting Superman sat down, giving way to Wonder Woman.

"It is my belief that we should give serious thought to disbanding the League. Despite all our power and our promises to protect the people, we very nearly let the Earth be destroyed."

Everyone present was shocked at Wonder Woman's suggestion. The most vocal of the group was Captain Marvel. "And what, just give up the fight?"

"No, undoubtedly there will be those who return to their own cities to continue the fight for justice." Diana gave a curt nod to Batman. "Others may return home. Regardless, we have failed as a team. Should we ask the world to trust us again after everything we have done?"

Billy was again the first to ask a question. "What did we do?"

"We built a satellite that no one knew about, developed instant teleportation technology and didn't share it, and we negotiated with hostile alien races without so much as including the U.N. in the process. Our intentions never turned from doing good, but somewhere along the way we started acting like a group of dictators."

Oliver Queen stood to be recognized. "I understand your argument Diana, but I think we're missing an option that's staring us in the face."

"And that is?"

"There are other heroes out there who stood up and saved the world where we failed. The next generation have seen our mistakes, maybe we should have them start taking over the reigns."

"Do you believe they are ready?"

'Honestly, I don't know. But I do know that if we do this right, we can make sure they don't repeat our failures. Besides, except for the immortals on the team, we aren't getting any younger."

Now that the discussion had shifted to another matter Superman took back control of the meeting. "Who do you think should join?"

"Well, we've still got invitations out for Superboy, Miss Martian and Nightwing." The latter's name brought a small, but audible series of groans. Oliver noticed these and quickly backed up his argument. "Yes, his actions during the Reach invasion were dubious at best, but need I remind you that they helped save the planet while half the League was stuck on Rimbor!"

Ollie's rebuke of the complainers left the room in silence for several moments until Batman kept the meeting going. "And there is also the matter of Flash. The League needs a speedster, and there is only one man who can fill his shoes."

Those present hung their heads in sadness. No one had seen Barry since he sped from the Fortress during Darkseid's attack. There was little hope, considering a single trace of him could be found anywhere on the planet.

"Would Wally even want to join?" Shayera, one of Barry's closest friends, spoke first. "He did not take the news of us declaring Barry dead very well."

Batman quickly responded. "He'll come around. He has to. Another candidate I would nominate is Hawkeye. If it wasn't for him or his team how many of us would be here, let alone even alive?"

Icon nodded. "I have no objection to Hawkeye's nomination, but surely we are not considering the rest of his team. On top of their relative inexperience, they are far too violent for my liking."

Dina shook her head. "No, Red Hood and Arsenal are already gone.?"

This was news to Superman. "Gone?"

Dinah nodded. "Yes, they took the Tamaranian, Koriand'r, with them and set off on their own in that Reach vessel. And I believe that Cameron and Maya will be staying at least semi-retired considering they are expecting a child in four months' time."

"So, we are committed to restructuring the League?" A chorus of approvals met Superman's question. "Are there any other nominations?"

Oliver raised his hand. "Artemis. With Roy splitting time with his family and my retirement I think she would be a prime candidate for membership."

Superman nodded. "Very well. Any thoughts on the matter Aquaman?"

"No. Garth and L'gann are proving worthy of their predecessor in Kaldur'ahm, but neither is yet at his level in experience, though both's sorcery is far more advanced. And while the death of Kaldur'ahm at the hands of his own people is a mark of shame we will bear for generations, I hope the surface world will honor his sacrifice."

If the room's mood was somber before, it was downright downtrodden as Aquaman reminded them of the events surrounding Kaldur'ahms murder at the hads of a mob.

Superman clasped Aquaman on the shoulder."Of course, old friend." The Kryptonian looked around the room. "If there are no other names, we will begin our deliberations."

* * *

**4 months later**

The League, all dressed in civilian wear, were gathered together in the waiting room. Their newly constructed base was abuzz with excitement at the news that Maya had gone into labor nine hours ago. Since then, everyone had been recalled to the base, where they waited anxiously for Cameron to come back to tell them the good news.

While waiting Hawkeye pulled out his League membership card and ran his fingers of the token symbol of his induction. His thoughts drifted back to the ceremony two months prior where he, Artemis, Superboy, Miss Martian, and Nightwing all were granted membership into the League. This time there was no public ceremony, no television cameras, no interviews or speeches. This was a new League. In fact, once they'd been made members had been allowed to offer their own input into the direction that the League should take. To their surprise, they found that the older members not only listened, but took their suggestions quite seriously. One of the first changes was to decide that the Hall of Justice would not be rebuilt, at least not as it was. There would be no trophies or statues of still living members. Only those who had fallen in the line of duty would get a League sponsored memorial. If the people wanted to make their own museums, that was on them.

After the decision about the Hall had been made the team of younger heroes had been completely restructured. They were no longer going on missions, only being trained in the simulator as a team and joining their own mentors in the field. Only on very special occasions did they actually team up with each other in the field. There was a new Robin in Gotham City, one far different that his predecessors. Damian may have rubbed a lot of heroes the wrong way with his haughty attitude, but he was a highly effective partner to Batman. Batgirl, along with Black Canary, had been assigned as the team's trainer; though she had declined an offer to join the League was well. Wonder Girl, who was being groomed to become the next Wonder Woman upon Diana's retirement, was team leader with Blue Beetle as her second. Supergirl and the members of Sigma Squad also accepted the invitation to join the team in training. Beast Boy took time off after the invasion, mostly to mourn Tim's death and to spend time with his adopted sister, M'gann. Karen Beecher permanently retired from the hero world, choosing a career in science alongside Ray Palmer and Adam Strange. The three had been working tirelessly to restore the League's tech to its former state.

Hawkeye looked around the room one final time, but stopped when he Kara, who was sitting next to him, cringe as though she had heard something she shouldn't have.

"Maya screaming bloody murder yet?" Thomas couldn't help but laugh as Kon shook his head across the room.

"Something like that."

Down the hall, well out of earshot from the other heroes, Maya, Cameron and the rest of the League's trusted doctors were busy delivering the duo's child.

"Cameron Spear, I am going to kill you when this little devil is out!"

Cameron couldn't reply as he was too busy trying not to scream as Maya crushed his left hand as she pushed.

A female nurse put a hand on Maya's shoulder. "It's time for another push dear. One last push and you'll have your baby in your arms."

With a scream of pain Maya followed the nurse's instructions. The room was silent after Maya suddenly stopped screaming, but the sound of a wailing baby soon filled the air.

While the doctors were cleaning off the newborn Cameron and Maya shared a quick embrace. After breaking away Maya had a request. "Would you go get Dinah?"

Cameron nodded and tore out of the room, eager to get back as soon as he could. The heroes in the waiting room all snapped to attention as Cameron bounded into the waiting room.

"It's a boy!"

Everyone cheered the good news and quieted down once Cameron motioned for Dinah to follow him back to the room. Colton wanted to ask a question before they left. "What's his name?"

"We're naming him James, after Jim."

The words had special significance for Sigma Squad. Jim had been their leader before he sacrificed himself to save the team from being captured. After Cameron shared the news, there were hardly any dry eyes in the room.

Thomas watched Cameron and Dinah retreat back into the hospital room. While he was exceedingly happy for his teammates he couldn't help but think that after all the darkness of the last few years, things finally seemed like they were looking up for the heroes.

* * *

**So, let me know what you thought of the story and what you think about a Kyle Rayner tale!**


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